


AMNESIA

by TattooedDiary



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Angst, Angst and Tragedy, Angst with a Happy Ending, Boyfriends, Boys In Love, Drug Use, Established Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson, Famous Louis Tomlinson, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Humor, Gay, Gay Male Character, Gun Violence, Guns, Kidnapping, Larry Stylinson Is Real, Liam Payne & Louis Tomlinson Friendship, Louis Tomlinson Loves Harry Styles, M/M, Niall Horan & Harry Styles Friendship, Past Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson, Prince Harry Styles, Russian Mafia, Teen Angst, Zayn Malik & Louis Tomlinson Friendship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-09
Updated: 2021-01-25
Packaged: 2021-03-13 10:35:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 49,379
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28652091
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TattooedDiary/pseuds/TattooedDiary
Summary: "When I'm with you, it's like I'm on amnesia experiencing my worst deja vu."Or an AU where Louis and Harry meet each other after 2 years since an unfortunate event parted them away and Harry becomes amnesiac.
Relationships: Gigi Hadid/Zayn Malik, Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson, Liam Payne/Danielle Peazer
Kudos: 4





	1. The End

**AUTHOR'S NOTE**

Hii!! I'm really glad that you chose to read this fanfic! I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!! 

So before we start I want to let you guys know that neither English is my first language nor do I live in England so I don't know much about the British education system (yes it's a campus based fic) and nothing about the streets so all the addresses and places mentioned are purely fictional. Also, please feel free to let me know about my grammar mistakes if you find any. You're absolutely welcomed with your thoughts about the story, negative or positive, I appreciate it all 

**Trigger warning** **// Mention of guns and drugs, homophobia, parental issues, child trafficking.**

**Content warning// Usage of strong language and slurs.**

**It's also available on wattpad to read:[AMNESIA](https://my.w.tt/DgNgC8yyUcb)** ****

Also if anyone wants, my Twitter is[HalosGlitter](https://twitter.com/halosglitter?s=09) :)

So let's get started!! 

.

.

.

.

.

|PRESENT|

 _"Hands in the air darlings, hands in_ _the_ _air."_ Derrick Morgan sung his commands as he pointed his pistol towards the two terror struck boys begging for their dear lives. He continued with his menacing words as the boys trembled under his vicious gaze, _"You thought_ _I'd_ _never find out, huh? Betraying me is_ _like_ _shooting yourself in the foot..."_ He raised his pistol gripped hand in the air, pressed the trigger firing two bullets in series towards the sky while the boys felt like their souls left their bodies. _"..._ _or maybe the head?"_ A sly smirk rising higher on his face making him look like one of the biggest works of monstrosity that mankind has ever experienced.

Derrick started walking towards the boys as the two oblivion teenagers were struck between the river flowing beneath them and this monster disguised as human in front of them. His firm and assured steps felt like tremor to their fragile bodies while every bit of their skin shuddered as he neared them. They were so petrified, they couldn't even feel their heart nearing an explosion in their chest.

 _"You seem too quiet today, Tomlinson. You are the first to defend yourself_ _everytime_ _, so what's wrong today, hmm?"_ Morgan said as he slid his gun and rested it under Louis' chin making his watery, red eyes meet the devilish hues of his grey. Louis squeezed Harry's hand firmly, who was running out of breath due to the suffocating panic attack, gesturing that he'll always protect the two of them and Harry will always be safe with him.

Louis started to talk in a shaky voice, frantic,"Look... I have an explanation..." but before Louis could complete, a hoarse series of laughter cut him off.

_"And what will do with your explanation, Tomlinson? Will the police leave me? Huh?"_

"Then what do you want?" Louis cried, incapable of doing anything at the moment.

 _"Change your statement in_ _the_ _court."_ He said simply.

The panic in his voice is now replaced with something dangerous and his eyes widened with shattering rage as he hissed "That's never happening you fucking monster!"

 _"Oh lovely! Look where your love brought us. So_ _let's do_ _this...."_ he takes a few steps back and stands tall in front of Harry, pointing his gun towards the already breathless boy. _"... this boy is the_ _reason_ _,_ _right_ _? You betrayed me? Well, let's destroy the reason, then, will you be obedient to me?"_ And Harry went numb. His knees weak. Not able to sense his own heart thudding in his mouth as his throat went dry and started to tighten around his neck like invisible ropes trying to choke him.

"NO! DON'T YOU FUCKING TOUCH HIM!" Louis yelled with every ounce of oxygen that was left in his lungs while Harry, even after being numb, was trying to stand still, trying not to tremble and fall, trying not to fall weak in front of someone as pitiable as him which was enough for Louis to stay strong and fight.

 _"I won't touch him..."_ He tilted his head slightly with a monstrous smirk, he said, _"I'll shoot him."_ And his smirk was replaced with a massive grin, one so evil, so cruel, that could even beat Satan. _"_ _What will_ _you_ _do? Cry_ _over_ _your boyfriend's corpse?"_ Derrick chuckled.

"Shut up! Please shut up! For the love of God, SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Hot tears started to crawl over Louis' heated cheeks, his vision getting blurred as his sight was blocked by the tears pooling beneath his puffed eyelids.

 _"Never_ _thought_ _you'd_ _be such a passionate lover, Tomlinson. You always impress me. Now do it one more time by changing your statement."_

"I'll do whatever you want me to, just stay away from Harry, okay?" Harry doesn't say anything as he gets more and more breathless, as invisible walls start to crush him down, he squeezed Louis' hand harder than he intended to, digging his nails in Louis' flesh harder than he thought it would be, while Louis, he just doesn't feel anything, he is drained of all sorts of emotions but love, love for Harry cause he had enough of anger and sadness and pain all his life. He had only one good thing in his life and he wanted to protect him with everything he had.

Derrick smiles in satisfaction, lowering his gun as sounds of police sirens start echoing around them and his smile is replaced with something horrid.

 _"You fucking cheat-"_ Morgan hissed, grinding his teeth at Louis, raising his gun again pointing at Harry who was just too close from passing away. Louis realized what Derrick was going to do as the bullet was fired from his gun, panic and fear held him still like chains, he doesn't know what to do, throw himself in front of the shot bullet? Push Harry aside? What if he shoots again? Who'd protect Harry after him? Millions of thoughts rushed to his head. But suddenly, his stimulus made him pull Harry towards himself, the fired bullet missed Harry and passed by almost touching the flesh of his left ear as Louis took both of their weights and jumped off the bridge, into the river flowing beneath them.

The last thing Harry saw were Louis' eyes, painful yet relieved, like oceanic storm started to slow down which turned into a warm summer sky as Louis kissed him a goodbye one last time and Harry closed his eyes as he went unconscious while they splashed into the cold water.

And Louis woke up, sweating and panting heavily, gasping for oxygen with sheets clenched tightly in his hands, he had that nightmare again.

"FUCK YOUUUU!! FUCK YOU DERRICK! ROT IN THE HELL YOU FUCKING MONSTER!! DIE FUCKER DIE!!!" Louis screams in a gravely voice with tears pricking at the ends of his eyes as he shuts them tight like it'll shake all the terrible nightmares away.

The next thing he knew after opening his eyes was that his room is illuminated with warm yellows of leds on the ceiling which always pacified him and Liam standing next to him, squeezing his shoulders for comfort with nothing but genuine concern on his face.

Liam bends down to give Louis a tight hug as a quiet sob slipped from Louis' lips.

"I'm so sorry, Li... I'm really sorry..." Louis whispers quietly with his face buried in the crook of Liam's neck.

 _"Shh.. it's ok, there's nothing to be sorry about."_ Liam's voice slightly above a whisper as he patted his back gently.

"It was so peaceful when I was not here, must've ruined everything for you...."

 _"Shut up, Lou. I like it better when_ _you're_ _around."_

A ghost of smile touchs Louis' face, "Can't believe that I am so lucky to have you as my cousin...."

 _"Can't believe that_ _I_ _am so lucky to have YOU as_ _my_ _cousin.."_ Liam parrots back ever so softly.

Louis' face broke into a massive smile at his words, "Don't worry, tomorrow I'm going to meet Harry... things are going to alright now, I promise! There won't be anymore nightmare chasing me."

Liam's back muscles tensed as he nods tightly. _"Yeah, everything's gonna be alright..."_

Louis feels like something is off but doesn't point it out. Right now, all he wants is this warmth.  
  
  



	2. Stripper duck!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Harry meets Louis

|PRESENT|

***** **The** **next** **day** *****

Louis has been stalking Harry for almost two weeks now (yes he is alive) and he finally gathered all the courage to meet Harry's eyes two years later.

Harry was alone today, relaxing on the couch with all the food in front of him, bundled in blankets, watching his all time favourite- the notebook, oblivious of his surroundings. And Louis is kinda worried about it.

Louis knocked on the door... once, twice and Harry was still in no mood to get up from his couch and walk all the way to the door and open it just to get disappointed seeing some postman with bills again. He knew that Niall, won't return home before 5pm and it was just 1pm. Harry and Niall lived in a flat together near their school, away from their parents.

On the other hand, Louis who just shed around 50 gallons of sweat knocked again with shaky hands and Harry finally had to keep his bag of chips aside, placing the glass of juice on floor, unwrap himself from warm fluffy blankets and get up (too much work for the little thing).

When the door opened, Louis' icy blue eyes melted on meeting the greens which blazed like a sunrise on the horizon in a forest, with thin blue and yellow strands like an endless summer sky that added softness and innocence to them. Louis wants to get lost in them forever and never find a way out. Fuck, Louis missed them, those beautiful eyes he used to melt himself into when Harry laid on top of him. Louis missed Harry so much that he could just start crying right now but he doesn't want to come off as a little kitten when he's meeting Harry for the first time after two years.

But Harry, he didn't react the way Louis expected. While it was quite the opposite, crashing down his daydreams into pieces. Harry's eyes widened from fear as panic started to rise in them, with a sudden and heavy jerk he snapped his head towards left which would've almost got him a broken neck.

Louis was kinda confused but had a really wide smile on his face anyways. He quickly got out of his shoes, entered the house and reached forward to hug Harry. Harry made a quick gesture to stop the him and started taking cautious steps backwards, slowly.

_"What do you think you're doing?"_ Harry asked with panic rising in his voice, however, Louis chose to ignore that expression and moved further towards Harry. _"Hey, I asked you something! What are you doing here? Who are you??"_ Harry said moving backwards.

"Babe, I'm sorry you had to wait two years for me... I'm really sorry!" Said Louis.

_"Don't babe me! And who the fuck are you??? I'm seeing you for the first time!"_

"What are you talking about?! I'm really sorry for everything that happened! Please forgive me... I promise I'm a better person now! I know I hurted you but I won't let this happen ever again, please give me another chance!!" Almost begging for forgiveness, Louis blinked his eyes rapidly, trying to push a smile on his face which apparently worked well to avoid his tears from falling.

_"I'm literally meeting you for the first!"_ Harry said, irate. _"Are you trying to manipulate me?"_ He said moving away, trying to distance himself as much as he could from this stalker in front of him.

"No darling, I'm not! Please if this is acting, it's going too far." Louis replied while trying to move further and lessen the gap.

Harry, still trying to distance himself from Louia, the back of his legs hit a small table behind him. A vase sat atop the table holding a few flowers and a news paper beneath it with a knife and an ashtray placed upon it. Harry quickly turned his neck around to see what he bumped into as Louis took advantage and quickly started shuffling towards Harry.

_"Hey hey! What are you doing? STAY THERE! DONTCHA DARE MOVE FROM THAT PLACE!!"_ Harry yelled loud enough to scare the boy but well, for Harry, it didn't seem enough to scare the boy away. So he picked the knife up, quickly turned around to see Louis trying to get closer and without a second thought he swayed his hand up in the boy's direction pointing the knife towards him. _"I swear if you move, even if it's just a centimetre, I'll stab you with this."_ Harry hissed gesturing the the sharp, ruthless knife which can slice the boy into two.

"Woah! Chile there, Harold! Fine, I'm not moving!" His hands above his head.

"Yeah cool, now take off your clothes"

"Harry I- you can actually just tell me you want to see me naked, baby. You don't have to do all this." Louis chuckled as his cheeks started to turn pink, trying to tease Harry.

_"What the fuck are you on? Who even are you? Stop flattering yourself."_ Harry made a disgusted face like if someone just devoured a pizza with pineapple on it in front of him.

"You know what love, you can stop pretending. I'm quite quick witted and your acting skills are real poor. Stop it already."

" _Are you nuts? I just want to see whether you're carrying any guns_ _!"_ Harry's voice demanding as he talks with vague hand gestures.

"Guns??" Louis' brows shot into his hair with confusion plastered all over his face. Cause?? Genuinely?? What guns? Harry needs to stop if he's acting now.

_"Yes guns! Now take your clothes off and let me inspect, will you?"_

"Hold on! What's up with this gun thing suddenly?"

_"Do it when you still have a chance else I'm calling the police!"_

"Woah hold up! I will...." Louis said while slowly taking off denim jacket and then his plain white tee beneath.

_"Pants too."_ Harry commanded, still pointing his knife towards Louis.

"You got no shame, have you?" and the boy stripped off his pants. Right now, Louis can't think of anything, he is just purely confused with no trace of any other emotion misxed with it. He just keeps doing what Harry tells him to.

_"Now pick those clothes from the floor and shake them, I wanna see if a gun is hidden in any of those.."_

Louis does as said while standing only in his boxers. _And kind of bulging too-_

_"Alright... now... about your boxers?"_ Harry said.

"WHAT??" Louis asked in disbelief.

_"What if you have it hidden there? It's literally like ...you can see!"_

"WHY WOULD I HIDE A GUN THERE??" And Louis absolutely loses it 'cause what fuck is even Harry doing? Louis opens his mouth and nearly says "CAUSE YOU'RE TOO FUCKING HOT HARRY STYLES AND HENCE IM HAVING A BONER!" But Harry interrupts him and thank fuck he did.

_"I mean you're a weirdo, you can do anything."_

"You're nuts! I'm definitely not hiding anything there!"

_"Then what is the bulge about?"_ Well... Harry is still panicking and definitely not in a state of mind to think about literally anything... please forgive the poor boy, he's really scared of this stalker right now.

"I mean-" Louis rolled his eyes with a deep sigh, completely at a loss of words. "You know what? It's actually a gun! I'm hiding it in my boxers and I'm actually a woman that's why I can't have a natural bulge. Now what about it?"

_"What-? You are?"_ Now hesitant Harry started lowering his hand and looking away, feeling like a complete piece of shit. Panic on his face replaced with embarrassment _"L-look... I'm sorry- You could've told me, I would never do that to a woman. I'm really sorry- I'm kinda sensitive to... traumatic to guns and strangers...??"_ still not looking in the Louis' direction.

Louis starrs laughing like a mad man and completely ignores everything that was said after Harry's quick apology, startling Harry. "You- you really thought that omg" his continuous giggles making it impossible for him to speak. He laughs so hard that his head keeps falling behind with his eyes shut tightly. "Oh my God!! I'm a boy, alright? Stop being sorry. Chile mate, it was a fucking joke." Still laughing, mocking Harry.

Harry exhaled out of relief and now frowning. _"You're fucking sick! Are you even a human?? No like genuinely, what human is so weird??"_

"No I'm actually an unicorn disguised as a man." He placed a hand on his head making it look like an unicorn's horn while he is still laughing.

_"You think_ _this_ _is a joke? Are you having some_ _identity_ _crises_ _right_ _now? WHERE THE FUCK IS AN UNICORN COMING FROM!?"_ Poor Harry, frustrated as hell, still haunted from the past events.

"Trust me, that was a lie... what I just said is true. I'm a duck!" The boy accidentally slipped as his laughs never stop.

_"You just said unicorn, Mister...?? Stripper Duck...!?"_

"The heck is a stripper duck?!"

_"You are."_

"My name's Louis, Louis Tomlinson and I'll be very much pleased if you can call me by my name." He said almost snapping at Harry.

Harry chuckled at the boy's name. _"Alright, Tommo the tease Tomlinson."_ Harry mocked Louis, shocking his ownself cause wow, where did that even come from?? It's not like he even thought about it before opening his mouth, words just left his mouth naturally like if he's blurting them since birth.

Louis frowned at the mockery of his name, "You remember 'Tommo the tease Tomlinson' but not ME?? You know what... quit playing stupid games with me already."

_"No I swear, even I'm shocked about it!!"_

Before Louis could say anything a familiar voice filled into the room. _"Hey Harry!! Guess who's back, back again, Niall is back, tell a friend."_ Niall entered throughalready open door, singing in the thickest Irish accent possible.

Louis turned around, his eyes met Niall's immediately. Before Louis even noticed, the sides of his lips were touching his eyes showing off his full set of teeth already. "Oh my God Nialler!! It has been 2 whole years mate!" Louis said like he's the happiest person to ever walk on the earth while Niall was just standing at the foot of staircase, half smiling half shocked.

_"Tommo you're back! Oh my God we must totally celebrate!!"_ Niall looked completely exhilarated as the he flashed a beaming smile. But suddenly he started to frown with the smile still at it's place, trying to take in the haphazard spectacle in front of him and he opened his mouth to speak again. _"But before that, why in the holy hell are you standing naked in the middle of my living room?"_

"About me being half naked in your house, ask Harry about it, what's gotten into him? He possessed or something? And yeah we must totally celebrate my return." Louis says the whole thing in one breathe, monotonously but the last sentence in great fervour.

Harry just stood still, looking at both the boys chatting, visibly proper confused. Probably lost in his thoughts as he didn't really seem like he is even listening what they're talking about.

Louis eyed him suspiciously, "Does he think I'm some sort of a creep or a wizard, why is looking at me like this?" The question was for no one in particular but Niall answers.

_"Louis, mate... um.. now I have a story for you, so dress yourself up real quick then we can go out and talk."_ Niall looked at Louis apologetically, almost feeling sorry for him. The negative vibes Louis had from last couple of weeks started to intensify now as a knot started to form in his stomach. But anyways, he slipped through his clothes as quick as he could.

Niall turned his head to face Harry. _"Harry, babe, Louis would never harm you in any way and he is definitely not someone who roams around with a gun..."_ at this, Harry immediately blocked all of his thoughts and just nodded like an obedient little boy while Louis stared between both the boys with thousands of questions rising in his head but he didn't bother asking them, instead he simply strolled and stood next to Niall who is now standing at the door, half hugging him.

"Let's go then... can't wait for your story!!" Louis called.

_"Yeah right, Harry I'll be back in sometime. I took a leave from school today, don't let mum know about this!!"_ Niall said and closed the door behind him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Why do you think Harry acted the way he did? Do you think Harry moved on from Louis? He found someone new for himself? Tell me your thoughts about it! And don't forget the feedback :) Loveeee, A.


	3. The Last bit of rope

|PRESENT|

Louis and Niall walked to a nearby park while chatting about how much their lives changed in last two years, how Harry started attending their private school, about Zayn and Gigi dating, some Amerciana called Taylor who is apparently quite popular on social media will be attending their school in November, Liam having a crush on Danielle... well it felt nice that Niall was being his usual self and treating him the way he used to unlike Harry... what's wrong with that boy?!

_"When did you comeback?"_

"Two weeks ago.."

_"And you're_ _appearing_ _NOW?"_

"I was nervous..." Louis says in a small voice.

 _"Louis Tomlinson being_ _nervous_ _is new!"_ Niall said mocking him as he rolled his eyes and light chuckle slipped.

_"Were you with_ _Liam_ _?"_

"Yeah... he did an amazing job in hiding me, didn't he?"

They spotted an empty bench under a tree and settled there.

 _"He did a great job but he's going to be in a situation! How could he_ _not_ _tell ME???"_ Louis cackles at that, oh God he missed Niall. How could he ever forget the way Niall supported him at the end. He is such a precious little leprechaun to him. Louis starts to feel a little guilty for not telling Niall.

 _"Aww_ _babe, why you look emotional?"_

"I missed you!" Louis does a small pout with puppy eyes and pulls Niall in a tight hug. 

They talk a bit more about other things for some more time. Not like Louis is hating it or anything, he absolutely loves talking to Niall but right now, it's just that his curiosity is at it's peak, hundreds and thousands of questions are bubbling in his blood at this point but he's still trying to stay sane.

He wanted Niall to address the topic first. After a moment of chit chat about some random things, Niall finally fell silent, Niall who could talk forever suddenly seemed to be at a loss of words.

 _"Now about Harry..."_ Niall recalled

"Yeah?? I'm genuinely curious. Why's he acting this way?!"

 _"Um.. uh.. yeah.. but before I start, promise me_ _you'll_ _stay calm throughout and after_ _I'm_ _done_ _talking....."_

"Fine... I promise!" Louis sighed not being able to contain his curiosity and streaming questions.

_"Okay so... I know you have thousands of questions right now... and I also know that they're all about Harry._ _But you just need to listen ok_ _."_

Louis just simply nods. As much as he wanted to know about it, he also wanted to runaway, wanted to keep the truth away from himself as he can't bare to have a broken heart again.

_"So, remember the day? How things went south?_ _I'm_ _sure you do. Must be the worst day of your life..."_

"It was definitely the worst...but also the best- you know... it was my first date with the best person on this planet..." Louis' voice already cracking just at a reminder of the day. Niall's face softened as he leaned in to hug Louis but Louis pulled away immediately. "No it's okay, Niall... about Harry- tell me what's up with him?"

Niall deeply sighed and started, _"_ _So you_ _know how_ _Derrick fucked things up_ _that_ _day_ _and_ _found out the_ _truth and_ _everything..._ _"_ Louis simply nods as the taste of that biter memory was so long lasting that it still haunts him.

 _"...Yeah and with the whole firing of bullet thing that happened, it got Harry traumatised. And... I think the last person he saw was you..."_ And Niall stopped, he let Louis process this little piece of information as they both shared the silence.

After a couple of minutes, Louis speaks, still very much confused, "Ohh? So...? Is he like scared of me or something?" And just as he voiced those thoughts out loud, he regretted them immediately, cause no, all Louis wanted to do for Harry was protect him, protect him with every drop of blood that flowed through his veins and the thought of Harry being scared of him, traumatised? He couldn't quite swallow the idea of Harry fearing him. So scared that he started to act the way he did.

_"I don't know... but he trusts me._ _I'll_ _try to make him understand that you're trust worthy."_

Louis smiled in a flimsy way, he trusted Niall, he totally did but he had his own doubts.

_"Hey Lou, don't worry!_ _I'm_ _here, he can fear the guns all he want, but once_ _you_ _two_ _become_ _friends, it'll be all normal, okay?"_

Louis nodded with a smile, one really genuine with warmth in his eyes. A moment passed by where he thought about it, the day, Harry, the date, the perfect everything which was ruined by a shitty man blinded by money, drowning in his affluenza. But suddenly something clicked.

"Oh wait!! So then... Harry is just scared of me, which can be possibly solved and pretending to not to remember me?"

At this Niall pursed his lips and casted his glance downwards at the soft green grass crushed beneath their feet, trying to search for words to say like the grass had answers for him. Louis felt that this was odd, cause well _NIALL_ _,_ he was at a loss of words for the second time within 10 minutes and that was kind of shocking. Niall exhaled sharply and finally raised his gaze to meet Louis'.

 _"Mate.... Harry... well... after_ _getting_ _you two out of water he was taken to a hospital immediately, Harry was still unconscious and... after that he_ _didn't_ _wake_ _up for 6 days... but when he did... he... Lou..."_ Niall paused, as if he was trying to pick his words from an invisible dictionary hung in front of him.

"Niall?" Louis called, not sure whether he wants Niall to keep going or to stop or to rum away because of that one feeling he had for last two weeks, the two weeks he spent only with Liam. Liam who dropped his smile whenever Louis brought up the topic of Harry. Something didn't feel right.

Niall finally started to talk, _"He...Lou...Harry_ _didn't_ _remember_ _anything_ _or anyone, he was amnesiac."_ Lpuis gasped and his eyes started to sting at the corners, still trying to contain himself. He opened his mouth but the words didn't come out.

"What did the doctors say?" Louis managed to ask, his voice almost like a whisper as it cracked.

 _"_ _We asked the doctor about his condition and they said that it was due to sudden and_ _heavy_ _stress on his already_ _tired_ _mind, the water that filled into his_ _lungs_ _and how his_ _head_ _hit against water and his subconscious decided to delete them... but_ _also said_ _that_ _maybe there was a hope, we can give it a_ _try_ _... so_ _we just tried and_ _spent_ _all of_ _our time trying to_ _bring_ _Harry's_ _memories_ _back... and we_ _noticed_ _that_ _they were gradually recovering, coming_ _back_ _.... can't express in words how happy_ _I_ _was the day he said that he remembers me... but yeah so slowly all his memories cameback.... memories from people who tried to get him remember them... but... Tommo... you... you were missing_ _for_ _two whole_ _years_ _, so.._ _.."_ Niall paused and Louis, he already looked devastated, he then guessed what happened next as he wanted Niall to stop voicing his fears out loud.

He didn't speak as beat passed between them and Niall finally continued, " _so_... _I_ _don't think there was any way left with us to get him remember you but sometimes he used to come up to me and tell me that he felt like a major part of his life was missing... I didn't know how to explain it to him so I just made him pass the_ _thought_ _with "it's just a phase, it'll be fine" and as the time passed... you just... you just completely_ _vanished_ _.... Tommo... mate,_ _I'm_ _really sorry! But_ _I_ _just_ _didn't_ _know how to tell him_ _about_ _you, it was also the time when his trust issues were at a_ _whole_ _different height man! Ok_ _once_ _..._ _I_ _tried telling him about you_ _but he thought_ _I_ _was_ _joking_ _or_ _mocking_ _him... so it's not like_ _I_ _didn't_ _try?? Please Tommo..._ _I'm_ _really sorry!! And once, we also showed him a picture of you and he got irritated, or_ _maybe_ _mad at something? I don't know what was that about but we did try a few times and he ended up being mad... I_ _really_ _don't know..._ _I'm_ _so_ _sorry_ _!"_

Louis' eyes widened, all the blues from the world settled in them giving up all the warmth, he just sat there still as a statute, doesn't know how to breathe anymore. His hands formed a hard fist and his jaw clenched at a thought of Derrick, he wanted to kill him with his bare hands... he destroyed everything for him and now... the love of his life doesn't know him anymore, is scared of him and possibly resents him.

Moments passed of silence, none spoke anything. Then Niall gently started stroking Louis' neck, trying to soothe him. Louis left a long sigh he didn't know that was suppressed inside him all along. He wanted to cry out loud with all the screams and shouts he held inside for two years ... but even they seemed to betray him and disappeared.

He let his head fall back and rested it on the bench with a heated tear crawling down his cheek looking up at the bright summer sky of the last week of August through leaves of tree above, shadowing him. For a moment he felt like the bright sunlight was mocking his dark times.

Niall pulled Louis in a gentle hug and Louis let out a muffled sob, burying his head in the crook of Niall's neck.

"He called me 'Tommo the tease Tomlinson' today." Louis whispered, his voice cracked like a piece of fragile glass on a cold night as all the emotions and heat drained out of his body.

 _"Umm.. what??"_ Niall blinks, his voice unsteady but still had pretty pronounced speech.

"How does he remember that name but not me??" Louis raised his head to face Niall.

 _"Wait what?!"_ Niall cocked his left brow.

"You know, he used to call me that often.."

At this Niall's lips quirked upwards, eyes equally hopeful and joyous. He started talking with an endless grin on his face, cradling Louis' face between his hands, _"Oh my_ _God_ _Tomlinson!! Thanks fuck! We still have hope then... we can still get him remember you!"_

And Louis just blinked continuously, his eyes now glimmering with hope, it was just a little bit but he was happy, even with the last bit of rope, he was the happiest, he could bring Harry back to him now!! Or at least he can try. And he pulled Niall into tight hug whispering in his ears, "It's absolutely alright Nialler... you don't have to be sorry for something you had no control over." And they just stayed like that for next couple of minutes which seemed like a lifetime, the thing Louis needed the most at this moment was a hug and shoulder from someone whom he really loved.

_"So_ _celebration_ _tonight?"_

"Ofcourse! Is that even a question?! Bring Zayn... and tell him he can bring Gigi along with him!"

_"Sure mate! And you bring Liam, with Dani! By the way, look at the sudden mood change..._ _I'm_ _really happy for you!!"_

"Yep yep... by the waaaay- how do you know what happened that day so accurately?" Louis arched an eyebrow.

 _"Well mate... hahaha.. umm... hahaha... uhh... I stalked you guys and kept hiding all the time so_ _I_ _watched_ _it_ _all_ _go South from a distance."_ He stuttered but then said it all in one breathe.

"Niall?? Seriously?!" Louis huffed.

 _"Look... my gut and my heart_ _completely_ _trusted_ _you! It_ _was_ _my mind which was_ _being_ _a complete dick! And if I were_ _not_ _present there then who_ _would've_ _called the police???"_

"Well... yeah that's right though.. who'd call the police." Louis said eyeing Niall.

 _"Can_ _I_ _bring_ _Harry too?"_

"If he wants to come. He hates me now I guess. Just please help me convince him that I'm not a bad guy...." Louis sighs.

 _"Convince him? We'll make you guys fall_ _in_ _love_ _once_ _again!"_ Niall said with a mischievous wink and a little smirk crawling on his lips.

"Well... we'll see... guess I need to make plans about how do I get him back."

_"YESS!! And if you need help, yo' boy's here! Ya know."_

"Yeah yeah! So I'll get going... I know this is kinda mean that I talked to you only about Harry but I think I need to hurry and get back home before dad files a missing report!"

Niall giggled and waved him a goodbye.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hii!! Hope you liked this chapter!! What do you think will happen at the party then? Tell me your thoughts! And I love feedbacks so don't forget about them :D


	4. Old Presents!

|PRESENT|

They gathered at a club around the corner of Niall's flat. Niall and Harry's to be fair. Louis was late as always... 2 years later and he's just the same _._ He entered and tried to pierce the misty crowded room with his eyes to find his mates, his eyes landed upon a curly haired guy under a dimly lit purple light. Louis immediately recognized it was Harry, ecstatic and heart thudding in his mouth. Louis just stood there staring at his lost prince, his chocolatey long curly locks dancing delicately to his swift little movements, wearing a half unbuttoned, plain black shirt which hung lose on his shoulders in contrast with black and white floral pants- the outfit underlined his picturesque frame even better- _God_ _he is beautiful, he was really created meticulously_ , Louis thought, smiling to himself like a mad man standing in the midst of the room when a hand settled on his shoulder, he opposed with a jerk, "Holy fuck Nialler! Scared the shit out of me!"

 _"I know mate but if_ _I_ _didn't come_ _here_ _to take you_ _to_ _the table, you_ _must've_ _spent rest of the night standing here staring at your prince."_

Louis blushes and follows closely behind Niall to get to their table. When he reached and looked around, Zayn and Gigi were too busy with their making out session, he was pleased though... Zayn always had a massive crush on her, Liam was on a nearby counter ordering something for Danielle- _the boy's whipped_ , he thought and smiled even bigger, then there was his precious little prince, who was scowling at him.... :(

"HEY GUUUYYYS!!" Louis announced loudly while shuffling into his seat between Niall and Harry. That's when Zayn and Gigi stopped making out, their faces brighter than ever after seeing Louis. Liam and Danielle cameback with their respective orders from counter grinning towards Louis.

 _"Louis mate!! Oh_ _God_ _! OH MY FUCKING GOD! You're really here! It has been 2 whole years! I MISSED YOU BRO! I MISSED YOU SO MUCH!!!!!"_ Zayn almost sobbing with his eyes sparkling like stars settled in them, looked like the happiest man to ever exist which cheered his soul as his warmth flared across his chest. Zayn stood from his chair to approach Louis for a proper tight hug, none of them were ready to let the other go, they stood like this for mintues which seemed like forever cause partners in crime after all, more like brothers. Louis let a little sob out of his mouth with his face buried in Zayn's neck."Me too Zaynie-" he sniffs "me too... missed you... so fucking much!"

Then everyone wrapped their arms around the duo, standing in a group hug, crying, singing, whispers of how much they missed Louis, cheering and laughing like they're the only people in this world who survived a zombie apocalypse... except Harry, he was just sitting in his chair trying to take in the whole scene.

After a long moment they all finally let go of each other, settling into their respective seats. Everyone talks about their past memories with Louis, those precious moments, pranks, little illegal things they used to get jailed for, their parties, copying in exams, picnics, their footie matches and etcetera. Louis was like the happiest human to ever walk on planet while on the other hand Harry seemed like he entered a whole different universe, doesn't know a thing that's going on, feeling left out and Louis sensed it.

Louis held up his hands to get everyone's attention and with the widest smile possible he started talking , "Golden days, golden memories. It's getting me all emotional right now, if we continue, I won't be able to stop crying for next 2 months! So let's do something and create new history, yeah?"

 **NEW HISTORIES HELL YEAAH!-** everyone chanted together raising their glasses to make a toast.

 _"Anyone wanna_ _dance_ _? Louis and Zayn? We missed_ _your_ _duo dancing! On today's special occasion why not shake that booty_ _tonight_ _?"_ Liam suggests.

Zayn and Louis agreed immediately and started getting up from their chairs when Gigi interrupted, _"Heeey... but_ _I_ _wanna watch my favourite couple dance first!"_

"Ooo yeaah the new couple of our group! Liam and Dani show us what ya got!" Louis demanded knowing exactly what he's doing.

" _Umm... we're not a couple Louis-"_ Danielle said, her cheeks pink. Before Louis could consider and reply Gigi added- _"Oi! Not Li and Dan, if you wanna watch their moves, I got millions of videos! Right now I'm_ _talking_ _about you and Harry!"_ At this Danielle punched Gigi's arm playfully trying to get her to shut up, colour brightening on her face.

Louis' head snapped at Niall and found him winking at Gigi. _Haha 'we'll make you guys fall in love again' he said, haha, but well this is definitely not_ _helping_ _as Harry seems irritated._ Louis thought

" _What the fuck do you_ _mean_ _by couple, Gigi? And_ _whatever-_ _I'm_ _NOT dancing with HIM!"_ Harry bursted, tone irate.

 _"Oh boy... ok not couple but c'mon please get up and dance a little, yeah? We are here to celebrate Louis' return."_ Danielle entered the chat.

 _"How am_ _**I** _ _supposed to celebrate his_ _return_ _when_ _I_ _don't even_ _know_ _him?"_

 _"So this is a brilliant opportunity to get_ _to_ _know THE LOUIS TOMLINSON!! Millions are_ _waiting_ _for this chance while_ _you're getting_ _it for FREE!!"_ Gigi said with vague and wide hand gestures, full of newly bloomed enthusiasm.

 _"Sorry_ _I'm_ _not interested."_ Harry said with an icy tone.

"Guys it's ok!! Don't force him, he will when he wants to." Louis said, careful with his tone so his disappointment doesn't show.

With Louis dropping his paper bag on his chair, Louis and Zayn stalked into the crowd. They danced like it's their last chance and then they'll be sent to military for the rest of their lives with no returning. Louis grinds on Zayn, well they kinda shared it, really.

While dancing, Louis could sense Harry's gaze crawling over him the entire time. Once, when he turned around to throw a little glance towards Harry, the boy snapped his neck upwards, facing the ceiling to hide his flushed face and bitten lips from him.... but Louis caught him and chuckled to himself. He continued dancing with his back facing Harry, still sensing his heated stare, but this time showing off his curves a little extra, shaking his already bouncy arse a little more.... cause he just knows how much his curves and his arse could turn Harry on.

They returned to their seats, sweating and panting heavily to which Harry reacted remarkably: _"Ugh hey Tommo the tease! Go continue being on that dance floor, don't sit next to me,_ _you_ _smell!!"_ He might as well have checked Louis out with hungry eyes taking in his fit and dainty body.

"Uh huh? Or just say you enjoyed the show Harold." Louis responded with a little wink and nasty smirk eyeing Harry's growing bulge to which he sat crossed legged hiding himself. Oh Louis does wonders and it _still_ works on Harry.

 _"You sure was_ _not_ _a stripper? And_ _what_ _show you're_ _talking_ _about?! You smell gross, ok? I don't like sweaty people around me! So full of yourself... Jeez!"_ Harry left his seat rolling his eyes, heading the washroom... for god knows what... *wink wink*

Louis sat back in his chair, taking the previously placed bag in his lap. Nodding to himself with satisfaction.

"Right guys! I got you all some presents!" Louis said with an exhilarating grin.

 _"What presents?"_  
 _"You know those_ _weren't_ _needed?"_  
 _"Hey you didn't have to!"_  
 _"Exactly! There was no need.... but-"_  
 _"Leave them alone,_ _give_ _me mine! I'm excited."_

Their already noisy little space was filled with even more noise, chaos, curiosity and excitement.

"Shhh!! I missed you guys! I wanted to give something.... and these are old things actually, which might ignite our past memories!! Didn't spend any extra money I promise!"

 _"Wait! That's_ _actually_ _cool!! Hope you_ _brought_ _my favourite cigarette??"_ Zayn said which gained him an elbow in the chest from Gigi, eyeing him which maybe said 'no smoking'.

That's when Harry came back, sweating and lightly panting. His face full with colours that if Louis tries adding more to it, he might melt into Louis' hands like some overly painted paper. "You look tired mate." Louis said teasing Harry who responded with a middle finger. Louis giggles at it and Harry chose to ignore him, must've taken every inch of his muscle to do so.

Louis studied him for a little while and started digging into his bag looking for the presents.

"Zayn, mate here! Your favourite cigar- remember when we once got caught by the police at your house party? Also this little painting I made of you the other day, I kept it safe, deep in my wardrobe!"

 _"Oh my! Gigi... just today babe_ _please_ _let me... it has been more than 8 months now..."_ Zayn pleades with puppy eyes for which Gigi melts and says yes. _"Aw.. you're the best babe!"_

"Oi! I brought it for you!" Louis says, raising his brows dramatically to show that he is angry for what Zayn said. He got a response which he was definitely not expecting.

 _"You look_ _nothing_ _more_ _than an angry kitten, so stop frowning already."_ Harry chuckled poking a finger into Louis' cheek. At which Louis' eyes widened so much, felt like they would leave his eye socket at one point. He jerked his neck in Harry's direction, meeting his eyes with Harry's. Harry's sparkling warm eyes widened at the realisation of what he just said and all the warmth turned into a genuine shock. While Louis seemed pleased with the gesture. He opened his mouth to speak but Harry suddenly blurted, trying to cover up _"Stop looking at me like this, will you? Even_ _I_ _don't know what was that_ _for_ _, didn't come from me!!"_ Harry explained which gained him a mocking nod from everyone in return and he rolled his eyes, slipping deeper into his seat. Louis slowly shifted his gaze towards everyone else, quiet and dubious.

Zayn broke the silence bursting in stream of laughter excepting the gifts, _"Nah mate, it's not like that...._ _also this painting, oh my god! You still have it? I remember this almost got us suspended from the school!!"_ The painting was actually of Zayn and his the then crush who was a teacher, making out. Gigi cocked her head silently questioning Zayn while he mouthed something like: "I didn't know you back then princess, I'm sorry!!"

Louis noticed Harry secretly peeking into his bag. "I got presents for you too, curly... be patient." At this Harry flushed and rolled his eyes again for which it took every inch of Louis' muscles to try and not snap at already annoyed Harry as he just won't stop rolling his eyes. Louis distributed all the gifts and was pleased with satisfaction that settled on their faces.

"Liam, I gave you your presents at home already.... so didn't get you anything for now.." Louis said hesitantly.

 _"Nah, it's still equally_ _precious_ _to me!"_ Liam replied.

Louis nodded "Ok and now last but not the least, I got something for you too Harry!"

Harry's eyes widened with surprise but disappeared quickly to look cold and stubborn.

"C'mon... it's okay to be-"

_"Whatever.."_

"Ok so here you go!" Louis shrugged and shuffled into his bag to take out a snowglobe with a little Eiffel Tower in it and handed it to Harry, while Harry looked kinda perplexed if not too surprised then. "We literally planned out our whole new year in Paris with the help of just this little snowglobe." And at this the table fell silent knowing all too well where this is going and maybe everyone, even Louis guessed how's this gonna end but he still wanted to push and get a reaction.

 _"Paris?"_ Is the only thing that left Harry's mouth with eyes stuck on the Eiffel Tower inside the snowglobe, little amused this time.

"Yeah Paris... next is this, now proper worn, denim jacket.." it was light blue, faded denim jacket with white fur for the collar. Harry accepted it readily too, looked like something clicked in his mind but left as quickly as it appeared. Harry just sat there, feeling the fibre with his fingers, slowly, moving them all over it.

 _"It still feels warm."_ Equally surprised at his own words like everyone else but he chose to ignore them and wore the jacket smiling to himself, sniffing into it still unaware of why's he doing it.

 _"Yeah it is very_ _much_ _warm... thanks.."_ and aha.... he actually blushes, openly, lets Louis see him blush like that for the first time this night! Now that he's getting a response he wanted, he starts pushing even further.

"Knew that you'd still like it! It was your favourite! Never took it off haha!"

Without waiting for Harry's response, he started to dig deeper into his bag to take out a book with pink cover and two men on it that read 'Red, white and Royal blue' which immediately caught Harry's eyes. "This was your favourite book... read this to you before going to sleep, a little part of it every night.." Louis says at which Harry absently quotes one of the statement from the book, _"_ _History, huh? Bet we could make some!"_

Everyone just blankly stared at each other, a little sympathetic towards Louis but just as confused as Harry about everything that's happening, everything that he's saying cause everyone realised that it was not from HIM, it was from somewhere deep within him, a part which is left out, almost deleted. Louis didn't expect **this** response, he expected something like Harry getting annoyed at him or questioning but it was the total opposite.

Louis finally dared to open his mouth, "Yeah- we made some history which was left unwritten, incomplete... maybe we can start from where we left or start fresh with...." and he leaves those words hanging there in air knowing that he definitely touched a string within Harry which was left to rust and demolish later, he knew he pushed those boundaries a little more further by this statement but Harry didn't seem to react much. He just stared at Louis, like he almost sensed something, still blinking and trying to understand what was that supposed to mean but doesn't dare to ask for an explanation and neither Louis wants to give any.

"Harold- this is the last thing for the night I brought for you...." Louis finally speaks again and dips his hand to take out a little bracelet.

 _"What is this?"_ Harry frowns.

Louis gulps and starts, definitely scared of pushing any more boundaries but now that he started it, he has to end it too. "Umm... it's fine if you don't know about any of those but you must definitely know this one.... it was hella precious to you.."

_"And where did you find this?"_

"Oh- I- Harry.... you remember this?" Louis' brows shot into his hair, surprised by the response but it's gone as soon as Harry spoke.

 _"I mean? Yeah?? Cause_ _I_ _threw_ _it_ _away_ _a week_ _ago_ _or something- but where did you find the exact same thing?"_

"Oh? You threw it? Oh.... and this bracelet... it was actually in a pair ya know, like... umm.." he doesn't dare to complete the sentence cause he's scared that this night would end up being wretched.

 _"Like what Louis?"_ Harry asks, his voice just above a whisper and Louis replies with his voice shaky, a whisper "like... couple bracelets-" at this Harry's frown deepens and he suddenly seemed to come out of some zone which his mind kept wandering back to, he is completely present in reality.

 _"The fuck do you mean by couple bracelets? First you're trying to make me believe that we KNEW each other all the time and now you also want me to buy your bullshit that we were couples?! That we were fucking? Dating? Literally you're such a manipulative fuck Tomlinson- such a bloody stalker!"_ Harry's words piercing through Louis like an arrow which is cutting him through, hurting him both physically and emotionally, eyes burning from holding back his tears, he doesn't open his mouth to oppose anything that Harry said cause he loved him too much and don't want to fight him.

 _"I'm_ _telling you guys, he got some disgusting ill intentions, just break all your ties with him already cause what the fuck?! You're trying to hypnotise people here!.... also why in the holy hell would I ever date an ugly twat like you? Even a dog would be a better option than you!!"_ and that's it, every muscle in Louis' body broke, he rushed to the restroom without saying a word back at Harry. Thankfully he found one of the stalls empty, he locked himself in and let out all his frustration, all the sadness, anger in form of hot burning tears which seemed endless, which were suppressed within him for two years now, he lets them all out while punching the walls real hard, at some point he even thought that the walls might break and collapse as the intensity of all of his emotions was just too much to keep anything stable around him. He finally unlocked himself which felt like forever.

When he went back to his table Harry was already gone with the stuff Louis gave him, spread on the floor. He quietly picked them up and stuffed into his bag. After some sympathetic words and gestures of empathy, everyone started to leave.

 _"Lou, let's go home..."_ Liam said softly.

"I'll be home in a while Li, you can leave."

 _"But Louis-"_ Liam squeezes Louis' shoulder gently. Louis is blessed to have Liam with him, even if he's a cousin, he feels like brother from blood.

"I'll be fine..."

Liam nodded and gave him one last tight hug before leaving.

Now Louis was left alone at the table which is now littered with cups and empty bottles, so he decided to leave, too. He took that bag with Harry's stuff and dropped it into a trash can outside the club.

On his way home, he absent mindedly changed direction and found himself standing in front of an abandoned villa whose nameplate read "VAN DOREN GATES, HAZELWOOD DRIVE". He was not even surprised when he realised where he was standing cause that abandoned villa was never less than a home to Louis _._ It has one of the most precious memories lingering between it's walls, he wants to live those memories again, with Harry but that seemed impossible, with Harry definitely hating him now.

After the realization of how precious those memories were, he went back to the club to get that bag he discarded in a trash can. When he reached there and tried finding the bag, it was gone.... he spent almost an hour and there was no hint of it. He took it as a sign that maybe, this is it. Those forgotten memories will remain forgotten, the incomplete history will stay incomplete.

How long can you stand on a broken branch, until it falls. ****

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> chapter about what happened in the past will be uploaded simultaneously with the present after this one :)


	5. NIALL

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: The chapters from "past" are written from Harry's POV while chapters from "present" are from Louis' POV.

**(** **TW// CHILD TRAFFICKING)**

  
|PAST|

The door flew open like it might as well swing out of the window as Niall surged into the room, getting all in Harry's space as hot tears trickled down his cheeks. Harry was completely baffled with whole thing happening in front of him but still holds Niall tightly, who is a mess right now, the bubbly, always laughing Niall was a weeping mess who might dissolve with his tears and pool on the floor as his sad yet angry sobs never stopped.

"What happened?" Harry asks quietly, petting Niall lightly on his back.

To which Niall just whispers, _"I'm sorry..._ _I'm_ _so sorry Harry..."_

Which doesn't help Harry to understand the situation any better as his frown deepens. However, he can't help but simply pat on Niall's back to provide him with comfort as tension started to collect in the back of his head.

They sit in the same position as Niall's tears never stop and Harry gets too anxious at this point, a lot of questions bubbling in him as he tried to keep his mouth shut but his brain had to betray him at the very moment.

"What's wrong, Nialler?" Harry asks, his voice just above a whisper.

 _"I told them not to do this,_ _not_ _drag you into the mess_ _but they_ _simply won't listen!"_ Niall talked through his muffled sobs, gasping for air.

"Whom are you talking about?" The arch of Harry's eyebrows get dangerous and his voice a little stiff, even if he tried to maintain his cool but it seems like everything is betraying him right now.

Niall raised his head to meet Harry's eyes but couldn't talk while still looking in them. He kept looking at a wall over Harry's shoulder when he just said, _"You'll know it, Harold..._ _you'll_ _know..."_ and left, leaving Harry bundled up with questions and tied up with an explosive anxiety.

20 minutes later, since Niall left, a knock came on Harry's door. _"Harry, dear, please come out, we need to_ _talk_ _to you. We'll be waiting_ _for_ _you in the living. "_ It was Mrs. Horan who called him in a sweet honeyed voice and Harry felt that this was odd. Why is Roisin suddenly being so soft with him?!

Now proper perplexed Harry leaves his room and decides to climb down the stairs with slow and docile steps so he can eavesdrop the couple. When he reached towards the foot of the steps, he stopped and scooted down so he can hide behind the kneewall and hear what they were talking about. A couple minutes passed and there was nothing but silence for him and eventually, he decided to give up.

 _"Oh Harry! Come here! Have a seat please."_ Mr. Horan said as his eyes fell upon the boy. A gentle smile plastered on his face with his voice nectared, which is again very odd. Because, Patrick always looked down on Harry, treated him like a dog from streets, talked to him like if he were a slave.

Harry sits on the sofa chair next to them and before any of the two could speak anything, he starts, "Do we want something? **Sir?** "

And the glued smile on Roisin's face fell while Partick narrowed his eyes and broke into fake laughters. _"Oh no, Harry..."_ he says, _"_ _I'm_ _your father, honey._ _Why_ _are_ _you_ _calling_ _me sir? Not my blood but_ _you're_ _still my son, we love you as- "_

Harry cuts him off in the middle of all the fake pleasantries, "Could you please get to the point already? I know I'll have to do it anyway." And Patrick's smile fades away as he clears his throat.

 _"Yeah, exactly!_ _You'll_ _do it anyway so..."_ and Roisin squeezes his knee gently as to gesture to be soft with Harry.

 _"So it's time_ _for you_ _to return our favour."_ He says with a firm voice while his eyes pierced through Harry's.

Harry rolls his eyes, "And what is it? Stop attending school and not leave this house at all?"

At this Partick smiles a little, _"Oh no, we're not that cruel Harry... education_ _is_ _necessary."_

Harry exhaled a deep sigh he had suppressed all along, "Then what is it?" He asked sounding bored, throwing a blank stare towards the couple, which alone is intimidating enough to normal people.... but the two of them, ofcourse.

 _"We'll be_ _giving_ _you more freedom is what_ _it_ _is!"_ A sly smirk creeped on Patrick's face which made the man look dangerous, full of ulterior motives which would do no good to Harry.

Harry raised his right brow, questioning. Just when he thought all of his confusion is gone and questions were answered, Niall's face flickered in front of his eyes, Niall crying and apologising for who knows what. This is going to be bad, worse than it seems- Harry thought.

 _"You can_ _leave_ _and enter the house from the front gate! Go out with your friends as much_ _as_ _you want, we also decided to_ _double_ _your monthly pocket money, if you want more,_ _simply_ _come at us!"_

And Harry's suspicion raised at higher peak as his eyes slowly widened and mouth agape, cause WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING?!? Are they finally going to tell people that they have another son and risk all the rumors of having an illegitimate child even more?!? Harry thought to himself.

There are not many people who know that Niall's father is a government official and at a very reputable post, only a few close friends of his are aware of this little piece of information and Patrick definitely has too many enemies. Patrick always said he has a son, Niall, but never really brought him physically in front of the media to protect him from vicious eyes.

On the other side, he also had rumors going on of having an illegitimate child with Amber Knight, the 36 year old top British model. Which is one of the major reasons why Harry is hidden from the world and treated like a servant when anyone finds out. Again, only a handful of people know about this, like his school's principal who was fed well to shut her mouth. The second reason is, he belongs to the streets and Patrick had an image to keep. He was adopted as, the then 12 year old Niall, just won't stop crying about the curly headed boy with a very warm heart from his field trip. And hence, is treated like a burden by Mr. And Mrs. Horan.

 _"The silence says it all, Harry. You want that, don't you?"_ Roisin cuts through his streaming thoughts with a cunning smile on her face.

"What do you want?"

 _"_ _You're_ _very clever,_ ** _my son!"_** Patrick calls as his smiles widens but not quite touching the eyes.

 _"Look, it's bloody simple. When you_ _leave_ _or enter the house, wear a mask and a hoodie_ _covering_ _your face._ _That's_ _it, that's all_ _you'll_ _have to do to_ _get_ _your freedom."_

"Why are you so eager to give me my freedom?"

 _"Oh come on, Harry!_ _You're_ _16 now. We can't cage_ _you_ _like this for your whole life,_ _right_ _?"_ Roisin said with a gentle smile as thunders of cruelty struck behind her eyes.

This is something terrible and very cruel, there are some corrupt ulterior motives behind all this but he can't figure it out.

"Why?" Is the only thing which he is capable of asking right now and so he does. He has so many why's encircling him right now for he doesn't have a because.

 _"What do you mean by "why", darling? We_ _changed_ _our minds about you and all you could do is ask questions? We_ _thought_ _you'll_ _be happy with this..."_ Roisin says with a small pout, pretending to be sad as Harry KNOWS this is all fake and questioning them would get him nothing, he has to turn to Niall at the end. He decides to plaster a fake smile as he simply hums and nods at their _opinions._

"No... it sounds perfect to me, it's just I'm not very used to with all this.. so just kinda confused.." he says with a smile and enthusiasm so fake that he thinks he definitely deserves an oscar for this small role in a movie called LIFE OF H.

The couple's faces broke into beaming smiles, touching their eyes. These didn't seem fake though, those were the most genuine and satisfactory smiles he's ever seen on their faces. Even if he hates them, he feels content for being one of the very few people who can bring out a real beaming smiles from them.

He leaves the living and goes back to his room with head now throbbing under the weight of tonnes of questions and an eruptive anxiety. He sits in silence for next 3 hours and tries to think of an accurate reason but nothing comes to light so he decides to ask Niall but he didn't return home that night. Roisin said he was going to spend a week at his friend's place.

It's weird how Niall left and didn't tell Harry anything about it, cause whenever he spends any time away from home, he never leaves without giving Harry a very tight hug full of warmth and love and showering him with a lot of advices about how to face mom and dad, which obviously never work. So Harry decided to text him.

H: Hey! Mum told me you're at friend's??

N: Yeah, for a week... sorry I didn't get to tell you before :(

H: It's alright xx

5 minutes passed and Niall didn't reply. It felt normal from Niall's side though. He seemed fine but again they were just texting.

And a few more minutes later, Harry's phone pinged again with a sound disturbing the whole silent equilibrium of the room.

N: Did you agree with them?

H: Yeah I think?

N: WHYYYY????

H: What do you mean? They offered me freedom and I took it, I can't just sit in this room for the rest of my life Ni..

N: Fuck's sake Harold!

H: Ok I'm confused, with the way they were so nice and now you being mad about it? With the way you cried earlier and disappeared? What's happening?!

N: Hold up- they didn't tell you?

H: Tell me what?

N: Harry... I'll explain everything to you...

H: When?

N: Let's meet tomorrow near your school?

H: Sure!

N: Be careful by the way...

H: Yeah? Ok?

N: Ok... goodnight xx

H: Night :))

And the night drifted, just like that, Harry's mind wandering between the way Niall sobbed on his shoulder this evening and his parents being nice in the most cruel way possible. He knew they weren't giving the complete truth, or any truth at all which made Niall act the way he did on the texts.

****

The next day, after school, Harry waited outside his school for Niall. Balmy and quiet afternoon faded into a blowy and bustling evening with no signs of Niall. No calls or texts from the other end were ever answered. Harry didn't leave until the sun drowned into the horizon and moon took over the sky as city glowed and bloomed to it's life and looked down at him, laughing at his misery as he could never shine the way they did, even if he was given everything he wanted. He was given his freedom and money but caged in wires of his dangerous thoughts which were gradually skipping for his throat.

While walking back home, Harry was lost in his thoughts, so lost that he almost got hit by a couple of cars on the crossing. Niall crying, granted freedom, Niall leaving, Niall shocked on the texts, Niall not showing up. It was just Niall in every corner of his head at this point. Even a lovelorn would've never thought about his lover as much as Harry has thought about Niall in last 24 hours.

As every second ticked, Harry felt more and more on the edge, he might as well fall and combust at some point if he kept stressing the same way. He asked Roisin about Niall after getting back home but as expected she didn't give in at all and Harry was left with nothing but his exploding head. He tried to contact Niall and there were none answered. Harry can't help but keep going with his life the way he always did. But Niall kept ringing and banging somewhere behind the back of his mind every second which he tried to swish away by indulging himself with school.

But the good thing is he has freedom, he feels a little selfish for thinking this way but he can't help as he knows nothing about what's going around him. So he decides to get the best out of this granted freedom and do everything he ever wanted.

So he contacts all his friends and invites them for a party at some club. It has been a long time since he went out with any of his friends and had fun, long time since he got drunk, a long time since he let himself be free and groove to music in the middle of the stage and sing his heart out, he tried to have as much fun as he could like it's the last time he'll ever get to do this. But somewhere at the back of his head, Niall kept yelling at him, telling him to go home and lock himself up in the room until he comes back but he chose to ignore it all the time.

And time goes by, just like that, with Roisin and Patrick not letting out any bit of information, with Niall not picking up the calls, with Harry trying to have fun by pushing Niall out of his mind.

It has been only 4 days and he's already getting in trouble with the police and the neighbors for painting Stormzy's lyrics like "fuck governement, fuck Boris" on the walls. But he is having the time of his life. Roisin told him that wherever Niall is, he is absolutely fine, so he lets it slide.

****

It's the typical Wednesday afternoon with warm air passing around, Harry leaves a text on Niall's number just in a hope that Niall might answer. He has a feeling that something wrong is about to happen, it's there for more than a week now but it was never about Niall.

He is walking back home and takes a turn into an alley where everything is quieter than it was on the main street but still there are a few shops on the sides with small crowds outside them. He took another turn, this time there are just quiet houses and tall trees swinging mildly at the sides with no passersby around as the quiet started ringing in his ears patterned in thudding heartbeats. His house was still seven minutes away.

Harry feels the silence is odd today, even if it's the same everyday. The air felt mystique which settled in his churning stomach as Niall's "Be careful by the way" started pounding in his head. He increased his pace and took longer strides.

He heard shuffling of footsteps from behind him, which felt like someone was probably trying to match his pace, get closer to him for God knows what. Without looking back he broke into a run and sprinted along the vague directions, took wrong turns, lost his path with heart thudding in his mouth and head throbbing in the ears, he tried to scream for help but his breathe got so heavy, the words leaving his mouth were just slightly above a whisper as blazing sun made it harder for him to run any longer.

His pace slowed down to a jog with longer strides, heaved himself as far as he could, breathless, as he heard the footsteps nearing him, the thudding sounds tangling with his breathe as chills ran down his spine. He finally turned around to see who it was but before he could place the features of that face, his face was masked with a cloth bathed in chloroform. 

The next thing Harry saw was darkness with some thick and rough material clenching around his wrists and ankles. 

Ropes probably. 


	6. Oii oii!

|PRESENT|

***2 weeks later***

_"Good morning students!"_ Mrs. Lawrence greets on entering the classroom. Students start to settle down in their respective places and Mrs. Lawrence continues, _"Okay then, before we start with our lecture, I have a news_ _for_ _you guys! You are getting a new student today!!"_ And class goes from a chaotic carnival to dramatically quiet courtroom, perplexed is what everyone is as there was no such word of new student that reached their ever so acute ears, eyes moving between the teacher and the door next to her, curious to know who this newbie is.

_"Louis, please enter the class."_ Mrs. Lawrence says with a massive grin on her face. Louis enters the class and the second he enters, class goes in awe, cheers echoing in the whole classroom, might as well disturbing the neighbouring classes cause **OMG LOUIS TOMLINSON IS BACK!!** Louis was thrilled by the response cause he never thought that people would still remember him, his smile touching both of his shimmering eyes, flashing a massive toothy grin. Mrs. Lawrence wraps him in a quick hug, smiling widely at him, _"_ _I'm_ _so happy that_ _you're_ _back, Louis! Teachers_ _are_ _pretty excited to meet you by the way."_ At this Louis lets out a soft chuckle, "I'll go meet them after this class!!" He says, still smiling.

_"Alright class, settle down"_ she says giggling, delighted. _"At least let him speak and introduce himself."_

_"But ma'am, who_ _doesn't_ _know him here? He's like a celebrity_ _!!"_ A blonde guy said, joy cascading through his speech. And Louis can feel his face heating up, he is so excited.

The teacher rolled her eyes but jolly, _"Ed, get back in your seat and yes everyone knows him but we've had a few new admissions after him, right?"_ Ed agrees and finally sits down.

Louis chuckles and greets everyone, "OII OII EVERYONE!!" at which the class bursts in cheerful laughters and he earns a bright resounding response back with another 'Oii oii'.

_"Louis, we're in school."_ The teacher huffed jokingly with a hand on her waist.

Louis apologizes in a low voice and starts talking again with small and vague hand gestures, "Hi! I'm Louis Tomlinson, 20 years old. Even if I'm a couple years elder than you guys, please get yourselves comfortable with me. I hope we can make great friends!! Thank you!" Louis finished with a bow.

_"That was great, Louis. I expect the same demeanor as before. Now please find an empty seat and settle there... or do you want me to choose one for you?"_ Mrs. Lawrence suggested.

Louis started scanning the class for empty seats, near the windows, door, somewhere in the middle or the last bench. His eyes landed on the back benchers and when they met a pathetically beautiful face, the one he could never resist, his face crumpled from blooming euphoria to something grisly, like he regretted being back to this school. It was Harry, that Harry he'd bring stars and moons for, that Harry who hates him.

While the whole class was sunny, Harry was the only one who seemed sullen at Louis' presence. But he didn't seem disgusted this time, resentful and annoyed but not disgusted, there was something else, _'does he feel sorry for what he did?'_ Louis thought but doesn't dare to let himself get carried away with Harry's unreadable eyes cause he don't know how this Harry, the one who doesn't remember him anymore, the new Harry is like. He stares for a second longer and quickly settles for the front seat cause he wanted to be far from Harry, as far as he can be.

The teacher seemed more surprised than pleased at which Louis asks, "What happened?" His voice slightly above a whisper. _"I asked you to maintain your demeanor, not to change it Louis. It indeed is surprising that_ _you_ _chose the front seat."_ Louis pursed his lips and nodded hesitantly. And the class continues.

*********

Once the lecture ended and teacher left, some students stayed while some started to move out of the class for their next class. Louis was still packing his bag when someone lightly knocked on his desk. A tall, slender figure shadowing him. Louis slowly raised his head, his gaze tracing from lissom fingers to pale skin littered with small, random tattoos when he spotted a padlock tat with an imprint of 'L' in it. Louis had a key with an 'H' on it. He immediately recognized it as Harry and met his gaze with hazel greens. Louis raised his brows, questioning, to which Harry cocked his head towards the door, _"Let's talk."_

"What do we have to talk about?"

Harry bent down at Louis' level, his palm resting flat on the desk as he whispered, _"So do you want me talk about you_ _being_ _a sheepish stalker in front of your fans?"_ He brings his face back to meet Louis' again with a sly smirk creeping on his face.

"I'm not a stalker!" Louis defends himself, his voice low yet tight.

Harry rolls his eyes and stands up, _"Okay then."_ He looks down at Louis with his cunning green eyes, he looks up at students who were simply chattering or busy with their work, _"_ _I_ _have something_ _to say_ _guys!! So please pay attention to every word_ _that_ _comes_ _out of_ _my mouth!"_ Gaining the attention from the students he looks at Louis, Louis' eyes widened, "What??"

Shifting his attention back at his classmates, Harry starts talking again, _"So I have some real juicy news about your_ _God_ _like figure, Louis Tomlinson!!"_

Louis abruptly stood up, almost tripping his bench down. He gets out of his seat to grab Harry's hand and drag him out.

_"Woah calm_ _down_ _stalker, do you plan to_ _kidnap_ _me?!"_

Louis stopped unexpectedly and lets go off Harry's hand. He just stands still like a statue, constantly blinking, blankly staring at Harry, at a loss of words. Millions of thoughts rushing to his mind as everything around him is at a pause. His mood bitters as his face falls while he doesn't even notice it much.

Harry snaps his fingers in front Louis, _"_ _Were you_ _really_ _planning to kidnap me or something?"_ Harry asks, now serious and starts moving away from Louis

A moment passes and Louis finally comes back to his sense, "What? No! Why would I ever want to kidnap you?!"

_"I don't know, you tell me... your_ _dramatic_ _pause_ _scared_ _me."_

"Huh? Anyway, what was it that you wanted to tell me?"

_"Not_ _in_ _the corridor, Louis._ _Come_ _with me."_

"Where?"

_"Ofcourse somewhere_ _empty_ _. Near the pool or tennis lawn?"_

"Why?" Louis' eyes widened and he dramatically started covering his already covered body with his hands. "Wait what are you planning to do with me?! I know I'm smokin hot, like a fucking diva and I remember our first encounter all too well, but mate, it's a no."

  
Harry tries to throw an unimpressed look at Louis's way, trying to look incredibly bored with Louis' stupid comment but OFCOURSE his brain had to betray him as a laugh slips from his lips.

"So we do have some ulterior motives, I see?" Louis raises his eyebrows with a smirk teasing on his face.

Harry rolls his eyes and starts walking, probably towards the school ground as Louis follows behind him, throwing millions of questions at his way. He abruptly stops walking and Louis accidentally hits his head against his back and Harry turns around to face him, standing tall in front of Louis like a massive wall of clothes and flesh.

"You could've at least warned me before stopping like this!" Louis complains while rubbing his head where he got hit like a 10 year old and Harry almost chuckles at his actions.

"What? Stop staring and tell me what is it."

_"Stop asking..._ _actually_ _yelling out so many questions. You know we had two_ _encounters_ _till now, which ended up being super unpleasant-"_

Louis cuts him off, "Yeah I'm very well aware and if everything you want to tell me is not to get in your way, I was definitely not planning on it to begin with!"

Harry plasters a forceful and an unimpressed smile on his face, _"How thoughtful of you."_

"I know, thanks!"

_"Shut up and come with me._ _I'm_ _definitely not interested to have this conversation in the middle this crowded hallway, okay?"_

"You have more to say?" Louis raises his eyebrows, half surprised, half confused.

Harry nods and starts walking again.

****

  
They chose some corner of the school's ground with some younger kids playing around. Louis stood with his back resting against the school building while Harry stood facing him.

"Start now, I'm all ears."

_"Yeah... so first thing_.. _I_ _apologize for being such an arse the_ _other_ _day,_ _I'm_ _not_ _usually like this..._ _I'm_ _really sorry about it..._ _I_ _didn't_ _mean to.. you know explode_ _like_ _that... you were being nice and handing out presents and I don't know I suddenly got mad at you for I really don't know what..."_ Harry says with a lot of stuttering in between, clearly very nervous.

And Louis feels bad about Harry apologising, no one should apologise for being scared, as he thinks Harry is. He remembers how his old Harry used to apologise for the smallest of things just to make sure Louis wasn't hurt in any way. _Maybe, just maybe, the old Harry is still_ _somewhere_ _deep within this new pile of flesh and blood called Harry is probably waiting for Louis_ , he thought.

Louis realizes the time is stretched longer than necessary as worry started to take over Harry's face. "It's okay, Haz. If I were you, I would've been triggered too, it's ok." Louis said without refining his choice of words.

_"What do you mean triggered?"_

"Nothing, just know that I will never hate you." Louis shrugs, he doesn't understand why and what is he talking about knowing that Harry won't understand a thing given the condition.

_"What? I- What are you trying to say?"_ Harry's frown deepened, confused.

"Nothing, Harold. Tell me the other things you wanted to."

_"No."_

"What no?"

_"Tell me_ _what_ _did that mean? And why are you_ _calling_ _me Harold? How do you know? Are you playing with my head again?!"_ Harry gets too defensive and recites everything in a single breathe. The Harry he talked to a few moments ago was gone, replacing himself with some stranger Louis doesn't know which makes his hopes weaker.

"Chill there... I was just messing around."

_"And what about you calling me Harold? How_ _do_ _you know?"_

"Niall called you Harold most of the time at the party that night..." Yes he is lying.

_"I don't remember?"_

"How will you, princess?" Louis tilts his head slightly towards left, questioning Harry with puppy eyes and an innocent pout. "You were busy enjoying THE SHOW after all." Louis says with a smirk crawling on his face out of the clever mockery which probably helped him change the subject.

Harry's cheeks flushed at the memory of Louis' bouncing filthy arse while on the dance floor with Zayn, going wild. _"Stop flattering_ _yourself_ _, will you?"_ He tried to act defensive but his coping mechanism betrayed him and he was defeated the moment blood rushed to his cheeks.

"I meeean, it was it is princess." Louis says with a shrug and a twinkling smile, poking his finger into Harry's nose lightly. Warmth settling deep in his body, satisfied with the fact that he still does certain things to Harry. And Harry's cheeks reddened even more as Louis addressed him as 'princess' again, trying to suppress an ever so obvious smile, which was again so fucking adorable. _"What's_ _your_ _obsession with princesses? Do you still watch_ _Disney_ _movies?"_ Harry tried to snap at Louis.

"Wait- you don't?" Louis raises his brows high and pretends to be shocked. "Then let me tell you, you're a sad, strange little man and you have my pity, **mate** " Louis snaps.

_"What?"_ Harry frowns.

"From Toy Story, watched it with Liam last night, he's obsessed with that movie." Harry's frown deepens as he rolls his eyes towards Louis.

"By the way, why do you roll your eyes so much, hmm? Frequently losing contact with your miniature brain?"

_"Why am I even talking to you?"_

"You're not, actually. You're just staring at me since forever now."

At this, a little chuckle slips from Harry's mouth but he covers it with his hands as soon as it comes out.

"Loosen up mate, it's ok. I love to watch people laugh." With that Harry bursts into hysteric and hoarse series of laughters.

_"I hate you, Tomlinson."_ Harry says, still laughing like a little goofball that he is and Louis laughs along, feeling content.

_"Okay, serious now..._ _I_ _want to know why_ _are_ _you stalking me."_

"Why would I stalk you?"

_"I don't know,_ _you're_ _suddenly in_ _the_ _same_ _school,_ _same_ _class as_ _mine being two whole_ _years_ _elder than me. Then you being at my house the_ _other_ _day, then you know_ _people_ _call me Harold! I_ _know you_ _lied."_

"So you're not that big of an idiot I thought you're anymore."

_"What do you mean?_ _You called me Harold the first time you met me at my flat, before Niall arrived... now who's an idiot?_ _"_

"Dang it!" Louis hisses under his breathe while Harry giggles. "Okay so, me being in the same class as you is a pure coincidence. Me being in this school, you see how they reacted after seeing me? Yeah, I'm an old student who took a break of two years and now, I'm back. At your house the other day, I was there to meet Niall and found you too. About the whole Harold thing, it's a pretty long story I don't want to tell you, not just yet when we're not even friends.... I'll tell you when the time comes."

_"So you didn't stalk me?"_

"Nope." Louis stalked Harry for two whole weeks cause he was nervous about the fact that he'll be able to meet Harry again after two whole years. But with the fact that Harry simply doesn't remember Louis anymore, all of his work of stalkery was drained in waste.

_"And why is the Harold story so_ _long_ _when we just met?"_

"I'll tell you when the time comes, ok? So all your questions are answered? Can I leave?"

_"By_ _answering_ _my five questions, you created ten more..."_

"As you can see we're still in school and got classes to attend, I'm busy."

Guilt covered Harry's face as he pouts a little, almost apologetic. He starts talking, quietly, his every word guarded from any extra emotions, _"_ _I'm_ _sorry for... umm.. accusing you as a stalker and wasting your time..._ _I_ _should've_ _done some research..."_

"'S ok, Styles. Happens... chill." And Louis feels guilty for lying but secretly pleased.

At this Harry's neck snaps at Louis. _I_ _f his eyes get any wider,_ _they'll_ _definitely pop out-_ Louis thought.

_"What the fuck?"_ Harry hissed, his voice tight.

"What?"

_"You! You said_ _you're_ _not a stalker but... how? Literally HOW do you know my last name? When_ _I finally_ _thought you can be trusted-"_

"What do you mean? Everyone knows your last name, eh?"

_"Literally no_ _one_ _does!"_

"In the whole school?"

_"In the_ _whole_ _school! Now tell me where_ _did you_ _get that from?"_

"What even?! Okay, it's again a very long story, yet the same story!"

_"Admit it, you're a stalker!"_

"I'm not!" Louis yells out loud with his voice cracking.

Louis doesn't want to give the truth as Harry, who already isn't very much fond of him and probably hates him laughed for the first time today ever since they first met, in front of him, **because of him.** He don't want to jinx it with the truth, he knows Harry would hate it. 

Kids playing around them stopped what they were doing and gathered around to watch with wide eyes (everyone likes some drama you know).

_"What do you guys want? Continue what you were doing!"_ Harry orders to younger kids and they leave.

Louis continues in a low voice, "I'm no stalker! There is huge ass story that you don't know and I'm not going to tell you anytime soon! So all the questions you have? Bury them!"

_"And how am_ _I_ _supposed to believe you, huh?"_ Harry leans forward, his right hand placed on the stone wall supporting his body while his left rested on his hips with Louis pressed between him and the wall.

"Remember Niall told you that I'll never harm you in any way? At least believe what your brother says!" The cracks in his voice get more obvious, cause fuck no, no way in the hell he'd ever do any bad to Harry, he can't even think about hurting him in the slightest cause he loves him too much, but how can he tell this to him. "I promise I'll never hurt you.."

A beat passes by and their silence stretches into an unspoken agreement. An agreement where they pleaded each other to stop voicing their thoughts, where they didn't want to give away or get any truth, where they made it clear that anymore encounters between them would be unnecessary and unwanted.

After a moment, Louis breaks the contact and turns around to get back to his class.

_"Wait-"_

"What?"

_"Why was your voice cracking? Are you alright? Was I too harsh with you? Or did_ _I_ _trigger you?"_ Harry looked genuine and a bit too concerned for Louis' liking. But if it was any other time, Louis would've hated it, he absolutely resents it when anyone, especially Harry worries about him but this time, a triumph warmth settled deep in his stomach with little fluttery flaps that his heart did for the contentment of a blooming hope that spread across his body as he started smiling absently like a fool that he is for Harry.

He doesn't even know why his body is reacting the way it is, which was definitely a little too much of reaction to a simple "are you alright", but he likes it, likes to see this completely new Harry worry and think about him. Maybe, he doesn't completely hates him.

_"What happened?"_

"Nothing, I'm alright. And no, it has nothing to do with you." Louis smiles even bigger and shrugs.

Harry nibbles his lower lips and nods. _"Okay... good.."_

"Good, yeah... by the way- can I ask you something?"

_"Yeah.."_

Louis tired to pick his words carefully, he didn't want to look too forward with words or anything but when he failed to find the right words he decided to straight up ask him.

"Are you scared of me?"

_"What?"_ Harry frowns.

"Are you scared of me?" Louis repeats the same question with a lower pitch.

Harry blinked continuously and stared at Louis blankly. His face was unreadable and as the time ticked, Louis' newly bloomed hopes started to doom slowly.

_"I- I don't know, Louis. My gut tells me you're someone really nice. Your relationship with Niall and Zayn tells me you're someone safe. You told me to believe what Niall says and_ _I'm_ _trying_ _to... but-"_

"But what, Harry?"

_"But- for someone reason, you scare me..._ _I_ _have no idea what is it about but_ _I'm_ _trying_ _...."_

Louis flashes a little smile and nods at that, _'_ _b_ _ut_ _I'm trying'_ echoed in his ears, so maybe there was a hope?

"Can I ask you one more question?"

Harry chuckled ever so soflty that melted Louis and nodded, _"Sure."_

"What's your last name now?" Louis squints his eyes dramatically.

_"'S Horan, Harry Horan!"_

At this, Louis stills completely and stares at Harry with an increasing horror and disgust spreading across his face like if he's gonna throw up right now

"Ho- Horan?" Couldn't quite believe it, the revelation too sour to his ears.

_"Yes, Horan. Why that face? What's the problem?"_

"What's the problem? THE WHOLE NAME IS THE PROBLEM HARRY!" Louis' frowns deepens with his brows almost knitting together.

_"It's my name, I don't have any problem with it so who are_ _you to_ _tell me?!"_

"Mate, it's straight up gross! Like eww I might as well puke on it or something."

_"You don't have a_ _filter_ _to your mouth, do you?"_ Harry crossed his arms across the chest.

"Glad you finally realized!"

_"Whatever_ ** _loulou_** _or Tommo the tease? Oh or stripper_ _Duck_ _?"_ Harry rolls his eyes again but Louis won't snap at him this time cause he is sure the boy loses connection with his brain every now and then cause _who the hell will ever be fine_ _with_ _a name like 'HARRY HORAN'?_  
Louis thought to himself. And right after, Louis realizes that he's been called 'loulou' which Harry is shocked at the realization, too.

"A new nickname, huh? I like it!" Louis teases.

_"WHERE THR FUCK ARE THESE COMING FROM?!"_ Now irritated Harry yells, yells loud enough to gain attention from the kids playing around them again. Harry turns around to face the younger kids, _"What are you guys looking at again?! Swear none_ _of_ _us is possessed_ _okay_ _? Now leave!"_ When he turned back to talk to Louis, he was gone.... or maybe he was simply hiding behind some pillar or wall, laughing at Harry making a fool of himself. _"Now where_ _did_ _he goooo??"_ Harry hisses, irritated at the whole situation.

_"Are you sure you're not possessed? Cause_ _you're_ _literally irritated at a wall?"_ A little girl comes up behind him, laughing at him.

Harry sighs deeply and leaves while Louis watches him, laughing like a mad man.

And days simply pass by, just like that. Crossing paths in hallways and corridors, ignoring each other during the class. Harry watching Louis from a distance, nervous, studying Louis, his festures and swift bodily moments, a little scared yet totally charmed. And Louis, he just knows but never questions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hii!! Thank you so muchfor reading my story so far!!!! I love feedbacks, so do drop one :) Love xx


	7. Wrong guy

|PAST|

Harry tries to kick as hard as he could but it doesn't help, instead he ends up adding noises to his quiet surroundings. He tries to shake the wooden chair just incase it helps him set free but that doesn't work either.

"Is someone there? Where the fuck am I? Why am I tied up?" He screams in a gravely voice, his breathe heavy as dredful trepidation starts to wire his throat up, strangling him as tears started stinging at the corner of his eyes. His heart banged in his ears like thunders which took over the quiet of this hollow room and skin trembled as a response to chill silences which enveloped him in aloof darkness. He can feel his ankles going blue and fingers cold from the tightness of ropes around them.

He is kidnapped.

He remembers Niall telling him to be careful, Horans sending Niall away, giving Harry a lot of freedom, Niall not being able to contact him again, all of it fell in place as he realized Patrick and Roisin set him up and hence refused to give him the complete truth. He was given his temporary freedom so he can get caged in this cold room full of darkness for who knows how long.

Or maybe until his flesh starts to rot.

He can feel his face heating up as rage took over his trembling body. His breathe grew sharper and shorter as he screamed over the capacity of his lungs multiple times. He could hold his agony no more as fury poured down in uncontrollable flood of tears, he bit on his lower so hard that he could taste the blood on his tongue as frustration rised in his body and his shaky screams.

"You fucking cunt! What have I ever done to you? Set me the fuck free!" His voice hoarse and shaky.

The room was suddenly illuminated with bright white lights as the door behind him opened. It took him a while to adjust his eyes to this sudden inundation of lights.

_"Stop_ _yelling_ _, will you?"_ A lazy and raspy voice comes from behind him.

"Why am I tied up?" Harry yells in a shrill, ear piercing voice.

The sounds of footsteps heading towards him caused his heart to waver as the knot in his stomach begun to tighten. When the footsteps finally stopped, Harry closed his eyes shut and swore under his breathe that he is about to get shot in the head.

When he opened them, they were met with eyes which carried the darkest past of an ocean, that tells a tale of every wretched ship and unfinished romances which drowned with them, like those oceans which swirled with the thunder storms, they were cold and dangerous but beautiful.

The boy took a step back as Harry realized he stared a moment too long at him. He took in every minute detail from that face which was meticulously sculpted by Aphrodite herself. The boy is mesmerizing, the sharp arch of his lips like cupid's bow, the taut chin and pronounced line of of his jaw surely inflated his beauty as the small button nose added a soft touch to his glassy face. While his feather like brown hair added warmth to this picturesque frame of cold colors.

And suddenly, Harry found himself being captivated. His eyes started to linger over his body, god he is just so fit, his lissom and petite body adding fragility to his cold, intimidating look.

The boy turned around, stepping towards a chair at the corner of the room and oh my... he got a real obscene arse.

_"If_ _I_ _turn around and_ _catch_ _you_ _staring_ _at my arse, I swear-"_ the boy said, his tone almost playful as Harry quickly retracted his eyes from them.

Harry cleared his throat, "Why would I?"

_"_ _You've_ _been_ _staring at me since forever like if_ _I'm_ _no human..."_

"Ofcourse you're so fucking angelic!" Harry almost blurts from his mouth but shuts it back up.

_"Did_ _you say something?"_ As he lifts the chair and starts walking towards Harry again and Harry simply shakes his head. He is intimidated not because he is kidnapped but because the boy in front of him is fucking gorgeous, and also a kidnapper.

He sets the chair a few feet away from Harry and slips in it, facing Harry, crossing his legs by the ankles. His denim was cuffed at the ends showing his ever so prominent ankles.

"You can tell a man by his ankles..." Harry comments and the boy is sent into bewilderment as his eyes widened.

_"What?"_ He asked, in his thick accent, one not so posh which belonged to big cities like London but definitely somewhere from the north England.

"You got a triangle tattooed on your ankle..."

He starts looking down at his ankle to admire the triangle tattoo and says, _"It's_ _pretty_ _special_ _to me..."_

"Ofcourse it is."

Louis' eyes darted in Harry's direction like if it's the most offensive thing someone has ever said to him, _"The fuck do you know?"_

"I have one on my back, so I know what does it mean." Harry says simply like if he's sitting in a garden having a nice conversation with a complete stranger who just came around to pay a visit.

The boy simply nods in silent agreement.

"I forgot to ask you..."

_"What?"_

"Why am I kidnapped?" No traces of fear or fury were caught in his tone, it's like this is the most normal thing ever to ask.

The boy huffed and rolled his eyes as his lips almost twitched into a small smile, _"So_ _you_ _finally remember you're being kidnapped."_ Harry doesn't say anything in response as the boy continues.

_"Don't worry, we won't harm you in any way. A couple of days later,_ _Stan_ _will_ _personally_ _come and meet you and tell you_ _what_ _to do. Until then_ _you'll_ _be_ _given_ _food and drinks_ _that you_ _want."_

Harry just smiles and nods, a bit too mesmerized for his liking and he hates himself for that.

_"Don't mind me but_ _you're_ _creeping me-"_ the boy says as he starts to get up from his chair.

"Where are you going?"

_"Back to my work?"_

"Where am I?"

_"In a basement of an abandoned house."_

"So am I like alone here?"

_"Why? Did_ _you except_ _heaps of bodies_ _and_ _rivers of blood_ _around_ _you?"_

"You- you kill people?" It's for the first time since he met the boy, he felt fear rising in his chest.

The boy chuckled softly, his little giggle like a melody to Harry's ears, _"Look at your face,_ _I_ _don't... and_ _never_ _will..."_

Harry's mind felt at ease as a little smile grew on his face. The boy's glassy eyes were shimmering like ice in the bright sun and Harry wonders why.

"What's your name?" Slips from Harry's mouth before he could stop himself.

_"We don't give names."_

"But you said some Stan person would come and meet me, you revealed a name there...."

The boy squints his eyes, _"Smart-"_

"Soo? What is it?"

_"_ _I'm_ _Louis."_

Harry nods simply, "Will I be living here all alone for next two days without a hint of what time is it of the day?"

_"What do you want?"_

"Can I at least have a watch when I'll be locked here up for next two days straight?"

Louis frowns comically and rolls his eyes and says with a fake smile, _"Ofcourse your majesty!_ _Anything_ _else?"_

Small giggles start to bubble from Harry and the way Louis actually talks to him tells him that he's not really someone evil, he's someone who actually has a pretty warm heart but just pretends to be tough.

"Will be staying here alone for two days straight? Especially at night?"

_"_ _Naah_ _, let's_ _throw_ _a party and_ _tell_ _the world that I've_ _kidnapped_ _you!"_ Louis snapped, throwing a bored look towards Harry.

"I don't even know where am I... does this belong to some garage or studio or a villa or some tower... I don't even know if there are be any people here... and I can't sleep alone at night-"

_"What the fuck?!"_ Louis hissed and rolled his eyes.

_"_ _I'm_ _not_ _going_ _to sleep here, if_ _that's_ _what_ _you're_ _expecting for_ _me_ _to say!"_

"Where will you?"

_"My home? Ofcourse?"_

"Oh...." dismay in his tone as his face fell.

Louis sighed deeply, almost like letting the frustration out, _"I said food and drinks so whatcha wanna eat?"_

"A burger would be fine."

_"Right._ _I'll_ _bring_ _it_ _to you at 11pm as_ _I_ _some_ _other_ _things_ _to do."_

"What time is it now?"

_"Almost 9pm."_ He said, checking the time from his wristwatch, it looked pretty expensive. A picture of Rolex sky dweller flashed in front of him, Harry remembers it from last month when he was looking for watches and this one caught his eye, it was from one of their latest 2020 collections but didn't buy it as Roisin and Patrick never really cared what he wanted, also he's never getting himself a watch which costs 24K pounds. All he had to do was read the time anyways.

As far as Harry remembers, Louis' looked similar, it was exactly how Harry customized it, yellow gold material shimmering around the glossy black dial with an oysterflex bracelet which was again black in colour but had a matte finish.

"Is that Sky Dweller? The real one?" Harry asks, completely ignoring the time Louis mentioned before.

Louis looked down at his watch and smirked, almost with pride, _"Yeah..._ _you_ _want it?"_

"No.. just asking." Harry said in a small voice.

Louis chuckled at this and starts getting the watch out of his wrist. Harry has to admit, Louis' giggles is the sweetest melody he's ever heard, almost like a little jingle of the bells during Christmas. 

_"You wanted to know the time right?"_ He says with a smirk and proceeds to clasp the watch within the ropes around Harry's wrist and Harry stares at it in awe but ropes... they terrify him so much. He didn't get out of one cage just to be trapped in another right after, all he can do us hope, hope that they'll set him free in next two days.

Louis left after telling him that the basement belongs to an abandoned villa and he'll be back with food in next two hours.

Now Harry is left alone with his thoughts, he is kidnapped and there's not a thing he can do about it. Not like he wants to go back to that narcissistic, self absorbed, egocentric couple whom he calls "mom and dad" but it's not like he really wants to be where he is right now, where his life is on the line. Even if Louis said he'll be fine, it'll be too foolish to trust someone who actually kidnaps people for a living.

Just then he realized, all Louis does for a living is probably kidnap people or sell drugs and as he mentioned some Stan person, they definitely are a huge group of people and he is just a pawn for someone's game. So how in the holy hell could he afford a twenty five thousand pounds watch. Either it was fake or stolen, Harry decided quickly.

But, his clothes looked pricey too- the Balenciaga knit sneakers, Burberry's reversible bomber jacket and black skinnies, he placed all the items in his memory from his internet surfing like a huge fashion geek that he is, he did some quick mental math and figured out Louis' overall outfit excluding the watch was worth about 2500 pounds. He gasped at the result and now, he suddenly wants to everything about Louis. If he has so much money, what is he doing in this disgusting world full of vultures who just wait for their chance to tear the flesh off their preys.

He glanced back at the watch to check the time and that's when he started to feel the tightness around his wrists again, but it didn't hurt as it did before. A few minutes ago it felt like his blood stopped flowing into his fingers. Did Louis loosen the knot? Harry wondered. Why would he risk it? But anyways, the door was locked and there don't seem to be any secret chambers in the room. Though he can't see the whole room from where he is tied right now.

The next two hours are spent gradually with Harry being lost in his thoughts. Thoughts about Louis, about how he haven't seen Niall for more than a week, will Roisin and Patrick even notice that he's missing, what if Stan tells Louis to not let him go, will **anyone** ever notice that he is missing though, if they don't set him free in two days then he'll have to make an escape plan on his own but how was the question.

Harry was surprised with the way he was not terrified for the first time in almost two weeks, as all his questions were answered at once, he felt something was wrong about it though, how he was screaming for help but ever since Louis appeared, he felt relived. He doesn't seem to be someone cruel, behind those icy blue eyes, there exists a lot of warmth but he shuts down for the world. But in a strange way, Harry feels safe with Louis, the most safe he has felt in last 2-3 weeks.

It was too many thoughts at once and after sometime, he heard the fidgeting of lock and the keys outside the door. Louis came back with a cheese burger, some fries and soda for Harry. And Harry was secretly pleased as while at **home,** all he was ever given to eat was leftovers from the previous night, just thank Niall that whenever he was home for dinner, he used to secretly pass the hot meals to his room.

Without a word, Louis unties Harry's ropes, "Did you loosen them before leaving?" Harry suddenly asked.

_"A bit..._ _I_ _don't want_ _you_ _to die here."_ Louis' tone was monotonous. Harry doesn't really like Louis being cold towards him but absolutely loves it when his body betrays him radiates the warmth.

"You won't eat?"

_"I did."_

After that Harry eats in silence, burying all his questions somewhere deep in the back of his mind and Louis busied himself with his phone. Harry notices it as the latest model of an iPhone. How does he afford all that?! The questions start to bubble again.

Once he filled his stomach, he started with all of his questions keeping one thing in mind- DO NOT OFFEND LOUIS! Cause you may never know what could provoke him and what all he is capable of doing.

Harry clears his throat, "Umm... can I ask you something?"

Louis nods without raising his gaze from his phone.

"How do you..." Harry's words are hung in the air when Louis shifts his gaze from his phone to him and waits while Harry stares at him, wide eyed. Louis scares him, even if he seems to be someone nice outside this dark life, he is fucking scary. Yes, he does feel safe when he is around but at the end of the day he is connected with the underworld, which us fucking terrifying.

_"How do I what?"_

Harry swallows, "How do you afford all that?" He asks, eyeing his clothes.

Louis looks down at his clothes, _"What are you trying to say?"_

Did I offend him already?!- Harry thinks. He still gathers some courage to ask as he is a nosy little hellion.

"I mean... d-do you... how?" He fumbles with words as Louis' frown deepens. "I mean... all you do is kidnap-"

Louis cuts him off with a pointy look, _"For the record, it's my first and the last time!"_

Harry's confusion increases with this, "So how do you afford all the costly stuff? I mean... I'm not a creep or anything but I know what brands you are wearing right now and all the products are pretty highly priced... so when... all you do is sell drugs, then-"

_"My father's a huge businessman. I_ _belong_ _to a rich household. And for why_ _I_ _still_ _do this? No_ _I'm_ _not an addict or anything and_ _no_ _you're not_ _getting_ _any_ _details_ _."_ Louis completes in one breathe while Harry just stared with his mouth agape.

"Oh... ok.." is all Harry manages to say.

Louis gets back to his phone when Harry asks again, "What's the time"

_"Almost midnight."_

"Don't you wanna go home?"

Louis raises his head to meet his eyes with Harry's and blinks constantly, _"Then what about you?"_ He says suddenly and Harry feels his face heating a little, not at a point where he gets red though.

Harry widens his eyes slightly in perplexity, "Wha- what about me?" He says, his voice just above a whisper.

_"You said you won't be able to sleep_ _here_ _alone? And it's a matter of only_ _couple_ _of days so, I can stay here."_

"Oh..." is all Harry is capable to say right now, as, a part of him is kinda excited while the other part is terribly agitated.

"What about your parents then?"

_"They don't care about my whereabouts."_

And Harry is reminded of Roisin and Patrick. Did they even notice that he is missing for hours now?! He wonders.

"Do I have to sleep on the chair?"

_"Want me_ _to_ _order a king sized bed for you, your majesty?"_ Louis giggles a little and Harry shakes his head tightly.

"Where will you sleep?"

_"On the_ _other_ _side of the door. It's_ _s huge mansion, I can sleep anywhere I want._ _I'll_ _bring you a pillow and_ _mattress_ _."_ Harry's lips twitched as a ghost of smile creeped on them.

Louis gets up and heads towards the door. _"_ _I'm_ _like the nicest kidnapper the world_ _would've_ _ever witnessed."_ He mumbles, almost to himself but loud enough so Harry could hear him before shutting the door behind him.

After a couple of minutes, Louis comes back and without a word he starts spreading the mattress on the floor. There is no blanket though, Harry thinks like if this is his two days stay at a five star resort he paid thousands for and they didn't provide him with a fucking blanket. But, it was not really cold though.

The epitome of being an idiot is what he is.

Louis then unties Harry. "What if I hit him in the balls and run away?" He thinks to himself but idea of Louis being armed with guns and knife swishes off the idea of hitting him. If he wants to return home in one piece, the best thing he can do is survive the next two days without causing any beef and being obedient.

_"If you're_ _making_ _any sly plans of_ _running_ _away, chug them off. The basement_ _doesn't_ _have any secret chambers, the door is made_ _up of_ _iron and will be locked and there are no windows. Now go to sleep."_ Harry stares wide eyed and nods.

Louis leaves by turning most of the light off. Harry can hear the fidgeting of lock and keys from outside... so he really is locked in. Just when he was assured that Louis left is when be starts looking for his bag where he slipped his phone before leaving the school. He finds it being carefully placed at the opposite wall. He walks to the bag and starts shuffling into it eagerly in search of his phone. The pads of his fingers brush against some glassy- metallic figure and he pulls out his phone. When he tried to use it for a call... DAMN! He cursed beneath his breathe, the battery died and he was left with no hope. So he just decides to climb back into his "bed". Harry doesn't really want to explore rest of the room yet, so he lays on the hard mattress and tries to sleep.

Louis left him with his watch and water, so he decides to play with the watch in a hope that he won't damage it in any way as he slowly starts to drift off to sleep.

********

Harry wakes up with a striking pain in back as he slept over a mattress as hard as a rock for seven whole hours. But today, it was the first time in a very long time when he woke up to the smell of pancakes and freshly made coffee which was made just for him. He sat straight, rubbed his eyes and started to look around and he spots a platter of soft pancakes stacked over one another with golden sugary syrup sliding down them as the smell of melted butter starts to blend with the air surrounding him. Next to it, sat a cup of brewing coffee whose mellow, woodsy smell mingled with that of butter making Harry go wide eyed. 

He then looks around for Louis' watch and realizes it's 10 am. Did Louis prepare all that? By waking up before 10 in the morning? He wonders as he crawls off the mattress and heads towards his inviting breakfast. He takes a long hungry look at the food as things like this never really happened to him. He remembers how his days start with a bowl of cereals and end with some cold leftovers from the noon or the night before. A massive and satisfactory smile takes over his face he devours the first ever bite of his hot cakes. As he was slowly eating, letting his tastebuds explore the delicate texture and sweetness of soft and fluffy cakes, the door opens again and Louis gets in. 

"Good morning!" Harry wishes him with wide and sparkling eyes and his mouth full. 

Louis chuckles slightly at the sight, _"Morning."_ Is all he says though. 

"Where did you get these from? Wasn't expecting anything till night-" Harry says, totally pleased and surprised at the same time which seemed enough to bring warmth in the room.

_"From a nearby cafe and as_ _I_ _said,_ _I_ _don't want_ _you_ _to die hungry."_ Louis says with his tone playful. He seems in a good mood.

Harry chuckles and nods like a happy little kitten that he is. "You seem to be in a good mood?"

_"Yeah... maybe..."_ Louis shrugs and flashes a warm smile towards Harry. It's like he's a whole different person in the morning but Harry likes this Louis better. 

"Why?" Harry raises his brow. 

Louis shrugs with his lips pursed, _"Just like that?"_ And Harry simply nods to that. 

_"You know you don't at all_ _look_ _like_ _you're_ _being_ _kidnapped...."_

"Neither do you treat me like you've seized me or something?" 

Louis smiles to himself, _"I promise_ _you'll_ _be set free in next_ _two_ _days."_ He sounded pretty confident with what he said and Harry hoped that he can trust Louis' words. 

_"So_ _I'll_ _be_ _back during lunch,_ _anything_ _you want in_ _specific_ _?"_

"Nope... anything would do..." the last time he was asked this question, he was probably five or something. 

Louis nods and heads towards the door just when he turns around, his expression seemed almost apologetic as he talked in a small voice, _"Hey..._ _I'm_ _sorry_ _I'll_ _have to lock you_ _again_ _... but the basement is quite big_ _and_ _has some stuff... which you may_ _like_ _... you can explore..."_ Harry just nods and Louis leaves.

After finishing his cakes and coffee he is left alone and in silence again, he thinks of exploring the corners and the stacks and the boxes in the basement. There were old, worn out books, some rusted dumbbell sets with treadmill and stationary cycles, faded paintings, chipped electronics, an empty wine cellar at the other end, there were a few acoustic guitars and then there was also a grand piano left to be rusted.

He decided to spend the time with piano, there was no bench around though so he just stood and played random chords and keys. It was fun at the beginning but he got bored soon as he doesn't know how to play it. Then he switched to guitars and as the strings weren't in good condition already, he hurt the pads of his fingers a little bit.

Then he ended up spending time in between the stack of old books. There were mainly psychological thrillers and gay literatures, there were some fantasy book series too like mortal instruments, six of crows, the twilight and more. As much as he was pleased to see such good collection of books, he also felt that how shameful it was to leave such good books in such a place which is practically bathed with dust. He checked the time from Louis' watch which is now clasped on his wrist and it was still just 11:30 am so he decides to read some psychological thriller and he picks "girl on the train". It was just almost 12:30pm when he was on the fifth chapter and found himself to be extremely bored, cause literally nothing is happening at all, the girl just won't stop fantasizing and the only thing that's moving is the train, he thought to himself as he dropped the book and decided to get some other.

Then just as he picked "the city of bones" he heard the sound of door creaking. Louis was back with food. He brought simple mac n cheese but Harry is not the kind of person who complains, he's someone who'll be very grateful for no matter what you give him to eat. 

_"I_ _thought_ _you might_ _like_ _this... as_ _everyone_ _does..."_

"I do, absolutely love it! Thanks!" Louis smiles a pursed lipped smile and started to leave. 

"Are you leaving already?!"

_"Not exactly..._ _I'll_ _be in the_ _living_ _..."_ he said as guilt dribbled down his words. 

"Oh... umm.. can't you like... just sit here?" Harry was sick of being alone. 

_"Sure if you want me to ...."_

Then both of them sit in an awkward silence, awkward for Louis, comfortable for Harry as he eats. He then decides to be the one to break the silence, "Can you play piano?"

At first when the voice broke through the silence it left Louis startled as he stared at Harry with wide eyes and open mouth for a moment and Harry held his eyes, blinking, confused. It started to get awkward after a little moment so Harry repeated the question. 

"Do you know how to play the piano?" 

And Louis suddenly came out of some zone he got lost into as he cleared his throat, _"Yeah... why?"_

"There's a piano in that corner... could you play?" He said pointing in the piano's direction and Louis' gaze followed as he stood up and went towards the dusty grand box of melodies. 

"There's no bench or chair." Harry calls from behind as he finds Louis looking for one. 

At first, Harry couldn't recognize the tune but after some more notes he guessed it was "How to save a life" from The Fray. He played it beautifully with such an ease even when he was standing, Harry couldn't imagine himself playing anything half as nice as that even when he's sitting. He got up from his place and started to walk towards the piano whose sound was pulling him near it.

He stood at the edge and watched Louis play. His hands flew over the keys and he seemed lost in the melody of his own as he coaxed the soft sounds with his lithe and fluent fingers, music revived the dead dusty room as Harry floated in his fantasy where everything was at a pause, where it was just Louis, him and the piano. Louis looked so beautiful as his head gently swayed to the mellow melodies, his eyes slowly started to close as his fingers glided over the random keys caressing the tunes of his own. The notes he was playing were different from what he started with, these seemed personal and for a little moment, Harry thought he is invading little something between the chords and Louis as a tender smile trailed on Louis' lips.

  
"Can you teach me?" Slips from Harry's mouth as he regrets it immediately and Louis abruptly stops playing. His cheeks were flushed, like if he just let a complete stranger into the tiny musical world of his.

"I'm sorry..." Harry whispers slowly. "You were amazing! I loved it!" And Louis flashes a warm smile towards him.

_"I can't teach you... you're here for_ _just_ _one_ _more day..."_ something about his tone saddened Harry as he purses his lips and simply nods.

"Hmm... that's okay.." he shrugs.

After a little while Harry started reading as Louis leaves the room.

*********

That's how the rest of the day passes, Louis brings in some snacks for the evening which eat in silence, one very comfortable. Then Louis brings dinner, he already had his so Harry had to eat alone. Between all that, he doesn't really care that he's being held on ransom or about Niall. The worst that was supposed to happen, happened and he can't do anything about it, neither like Louis is abusing him or anything. While going to sleep he is reminded of Louis playing random chords when asked to play something, it was deep and personal and emotional, and Harry is even more curious about Louis' life. His drifts off to sleep with head full of thoughts.

The next days passes in the similar way, just this one day and tomorrow he'll be free, Harry thinks to himself. Louis brings in breakfast, lunch, snacks and dinner but today, he eats it all with Harry. They randomly talk about the things they like and things they don't, about the book that Harry read, about the games Louis loves and a little more.

There's something about Louis that captivates Harry the way it does. His appreciation for music and adoration for sports, his gentle ways of telling him how he hates doing what he's doing, he must be just like a normal person outside this world, someone who loves to annoy people probably, or maybe is an artsy guy- the nerd everyone bullies, no one knows and neither does he ever ask.

********

The next day, Harry woke up to Louis sitting on a chair in front of him, who was pretty busy with his phone. Harry immediately got up and sat straight and Louis noticed as he flashed a little smile. 

_"Eat your breakfast, Stan will be_ _here_ _in thirty minutes."_

Harry nods with a beaming smile, he'll be finally going back **home.** They eat in silence. Harry feels the traces of desolation lingering on the inside of him but he is mostly happy that he'll be able to go back home, **in one piece** , without any bruises or anything.

As Louis said, stan arrived 30 minutes later. He looked like a basic white guy with brunette hair, also someone just as old as Louis was. 

_"Hey!"_ Louis greeted with minimal enthusiasm as he pulled Stan in a half hug. 

_"Heyy!"_ He said with the same tone. 

Stan started to look around in the room, as if he's trying to find someone or something and when he couldn't find what he wanted his face fell to a frown, confused. 

_"Umm... Lou.. where_ _is_ _he?"_ He asked Louis with a baffled smile and knitted brows.

_"Here lol."_ Louis said pointing at Harry. 

_"...Louis?"_ Stan said as he started walking towards Harry, carefully examining his face. 

_"Yeah?"_

_"Who_ _is_ _he?!"_ His frown deepend impossibly as Harry blinked blankly at him. 

_"What do you mean?"_ He said, closing up the gap between him and Stan.

_"It's_ _not_ _him..."_ stan says in a low voice as his eyes widened with horror. 

_"What-?"_ Louis hissed under his breathe. 

_"It's not him!"_ Stan almost yelled, as he panicked. He turned around to face Louis. 

_"How are you so sure?!"_

_"I saw his face, it's registered in my memory_ _and_ _that's_ _not him!"_

And now, Harry is more terrified than he is confused. The whole "set up" just clicked him. How Roisin and Patrick set him up and sent Niall away. It was Niall they wanted to kidnap! Harry's eyes widen at the realization, all the loose pieces fit perfectly now. Wow, he can't believe at what lengths Roisin and Patrick could go to get rid of him. As much as he is furious about the couple, he is secretly thanking God that it was him who got kidnapped instead of Niall... he is at least getting to pay Niall back, him and his favors he'll be forever grateful for, even if it was the in the most surreal way possible. 

As he snaps out of his thoughts, his eyes met with Louis' which are now red from anxiety and panic as tears pricked at the ends of his eyes. 

_"We- we got the_ _wrong_ _guy-?"_ Louis said, stuttering, his voice almost like a whisper as it trembled. Stan, pulled Louis in a hug, to comfort him but his breathe won't stop shuddering as he pulled away. 

_"Who are you?"_ Louis asked in a shaky voice. 

"Harry..." 

_"You're not Niall?"_

"No.." Harry's voice just above the whisper but he continued, "Why were you behind him?" 

As Louis couldn't get himself to answer, Stan speaks up, _"Niall found out_ _about_ _our business, eavesdropped us, secretly noted down the numbers to_ _our_ _cars... so... on top of it all... his father is a government official..."_

"Why are you punishing the innocent for your sins?" Harry said as he felt fury rising in his chest as his breathe hitched. His brows forming a dangerous arch and his fuming gaze pierced through both the boys in front of him. 

_"Harry... look... if_ _our_ _boss_ _would've_ _found out, we_ _would've_ _been dead... like_ _literal_ _bullets in our heads."_ Stan tried explaining as the fear in his voice just never stopped growing. It didn't really help but Harry's expressions softened a little. He stared blankly at the two panicking boys, just like him. He doesn't know what to say in this situation either as silence struck them in the quiet basement. 

"Why do you do this if you're so terrified?" Harry finally breaks the silence after yearning for more explanations but nothing came. 

This time Louis spoke, _"Only if you knew Harry...."_

"Know what?" He questions but Louis chooses to ignore as he proceeds to talk to Stan about the whole situation. Harry's jaw clenched tightly but he didn't say anything this time. 

_"What do we do now?!"_ Louis asks.

_"Morgan ain't coming back for next at least next forty five days...."_

_"Then we set him free?"_

_"What_ _if_ _he tells Patrick?"_

They look at Harry for an answer for the the question they never asked. When nothing comes from Harry's side they exhale deeply. **He will tell** **them** **!** They say in unison. 

_"What now?!"_ Louis asks.

_"_ _I'll_ _think_ _and let you know..."_

After a couple of understanding nods and handshakes and whispers Stan leaves the room and Louis follows the suit. 

Harry is left alone in the room as he don't know what to do anymore, anywhere he looks there's a question mark staring at him, cutting him through the soul. Runaway? Stab them with something? Tell Patrick? What if they tell him to stay here for any longer? Or what if they do the worst? He gets out of his questioning zones as the door opens and it's just him and Louis again. 

Harry doesn't say anything as Louis gives him a look, almost pleading for an apology, _"Harry..."_ his voice almost a whisper. 

When Harry doesn't say anything he continues in a small, raspy voice, _"_ _I'm_ _sorry..._ _I_ _know I promised_ _you_ _... but..._ _I_ _didn't know ... as they saw Niall but_ _I_ _didn't..._ _I'm_ _so sorry..."_ he said as a drop of tear rolled down his cheek and Harry's frown disappeared. 

"You want me to stay in this room for next 45 day, don't you?" 

Louis shifts his gaze from Harry's face to the floor and Harry feels sorry more than he feels anger. Sorry for himself and sorry for the boy in front of him as Louis' "Only if you knew Harry" echoed in his ears. Louis nods slowly and even if Harry saw it coming his eyes widen as he was left being disheartened. 

_"_ _I'm_ _so sorry..."_ is all he says and leaves but this time Harry doesn't hear any fidgeting of lock or keys when the door was closed. Harry left alone in the room with his pounding thoughts and banging heart. 

Fifteen minutes pass and Harry is lost in his thoughts. He suddenly realizes that he's still wearing Louis' watch, he takes off the 25k pounds watch and place it on the mattress below. He heads towards the door and finds it open and wonders why. He knocks lowly as if he was expecting Louis to barge into the room and stop him from getting out but nothing just happened so he opened it slowly. He rushed to the opposite wall where his baf was at, picked it and immediately decided that he running away. 

The metal door was followed by concrete staircase and Harry started to climb them which lead him to another door. Harry cursed under his breathe, he should've known better, the other door shall be closed, obviously Louis is not such big of an idiot. But he still tries to turn the knob and to his surprise it was open. He opens the door just enough for him to peak into an empty illuminated room. He couldn't hear anyone so he decided to get out of the house before Louis or Stan or anyone related to them comeback. 

He saw that the door for basement was located at the far end of the grand living room with polished beige tiles for the floor that mirrored the crystal chandelier hanging on the high ceiling above. Stairway for the first floor sat tastefully at the left corner of the room with artistically designed carpet running across it. And at the end there was a sofa set covered with white cloth at the centre. 

Harry felt mesmerized by the huge mansion but didn't let it run over him. He struggled to find the entryway, the room had four doors and high French windows as he struggled a bit to find the one which would take him out of this house. When he tried the first one, it was locked. He panicked at the locked door a little but quickly rushed to the other one and it was open! A sense of joy ran through him. When he opened it fully, he was led into a long entryway decorated with ornate paintings, delicate crystal chandeliers, embellished with fake flowers in meticulously designed porcelain vases. A designer rug spread across the room with a medium sized glass table surrounded with plush arm chairs and THERE he found his way out. 

A classically designed wooden door stood there spreading it's non existent arms for Harry. He runs at the door as it calls him by sweet names and promises a new beginning with teary yet happy eyes glistening at him. Sure, Harry is imagining non sense at this point after staying in a basement for two days, mostly alone, talking to dead things. As he reaches for the handle his face breaks into happy tears cause be finds the door open. Without another thought he opens it and starts sprinting at his full strength along the endless sidewalk. The house was surrounded by huge lawns and mini gardens and fountains and a lot of tress. He runs without looking behind even once. His face becomes wet from tears as he pants heavily with deep and heavy breaths started filling up with bliss. 

When he finally reached the end, there stood an enormous metal gate which was open too. Harry sighs a deep yet gleeful sigh with a small smile starting to form on his lips as he pushes the gate open and is greeted by a road. An empty and quiet road, he continues to run in search of cars or bikes. He gets the biker to stop himself, tells him the address to his house and in next 25 minutes he found himself standing in front of his home. There were crinkled by his eyes and deep dimples popping out as a massive toothy grin spread across his face. He go in his house and rushed to his room and plopped down on his bed. 

He was happy and content. 


	8. Zaynie boy!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dedicating this one to Zouis as I miss them so much :(

|PRESENT|

 _"Start with footie! Like be_ _his_ _coach or_ _something_ _...?"_ Zayn suggested sitting across the table from Louis.

"What?! And how am I supposed to teach him? Or **start** with him?" Louis starts talking in a comical voice,"Hey hey Harry! Harry listen! I want to teach you football, please be my student!! Can't wait to watch that cute little arse twist and turn when you play in those tiny tiny shorts of yours!" And everyone at the table bursts into raucous series of laughter while Louis receives an elbow in his chest from Niall who rolled his so much, felt like they might get inside his head at one point but still laughing.

 _"Louis you idiot!"_ Zayn tried talking through his endless giggles and sloppy drunken mouth.

 _"Listen... like last_ _week_ , _he was looking for a footie coach, so it's_ _actually_ _a brilliant way for you to get closer to your boy..."_ Zayn completed it his thoughts and Louis' eyes widened.

"That's pretty good of an idea!" Louis' face glowed with glimmering bliss. "Dunno what I would've done without you Zaynie boy!" Louis cried dramatically, shuffling his hand into Zayn's perfectly quiffed hair, which are a mess now.

"But why does he want to learn football out of the blue?"

_"Do you know Taylor? The American influencer who's gonna attend this school from November?"_

"Umm.. yeah? What about her?"

_"Well, every guy is trying to get her heart and Harry is in the list too-"_

Louis widened his eyes as dismay painted his face with grays. "So he thinks he likes women now?"

Niall interrupted, _"He's doing it because_ _everyone_ _else is, Louis. He is going_ _where_ _the crowd's at..."_

"How do you know?"

 _"I asked him the_ _other_ _day that does he really like Taylor and he was like,_ " ** _everyone's_** ** _doing it and trying to impress her so_** ** _I'm_** ** _just doing what everyone else is..._** " _so don't worry_ _about_ _it.."_

Relief settled in Louis' chest as he sighed deeply yet a little worried. "Ohh... then in that way, I'm getting close to him to get him closer to Taylor-"

Liam, who sat next to him patted his back gently, _"Then don't do it... we'll find_ _other_ _ways, right Zayn?"_

Zayn sighed and nodded with agreement.

 _"By the waaaaay..."_ Niall sang loudly in Louis ears, loud enough to make him deaf as Louis retracts and hits his head to Liam's mouth.

Louis receives a knock on his head as Liam rubs his chin. "What Niall?"

_"He talked to me about you..."_

"And what did he say? That how big of a twat I am?"

_"Why would he?"_

"Cause I ignore him all the time..."

Louis received another knock in the head, but this time it was from Zayn. _"Why do you? You have such an incredible chance to get close to him! You_ _really_ _are an idiot!"_

Louis sighs deeply, "Look, we talked on my first day of school, he had thousands of questions, I answered a few, it looks pretty resolved now but I really don't think he wants to talk to me...."

 _"And how do you know?"_ Niall asks.

"Know what, Ni?"

_"That he doesn't want to_ _talk_ _to you?"_

"All the vibes thing-y?"

 _"Well, he didn't really call_ _you_ _a twat, said that you seem to be_ _pretty_ _interesting_ _of a person and he would like_ _to_ _be_ _friends_ _with you but you keep ignoring him all the time."_

At this Louis' eyes widened so much, they almost left the socket with his jaw on the floor, can't quite believe what Niall just said.

"Stop making up shit, Nialler!" As he quietly wished that it was all the truth.

_"_ _I'm_ _not_ _..._ _"_

"Wow- what in the wattpad is this?!"

Zayn snorts, _"Definitely some gay fiction mate... cause things like this don't really_ _happen_ _in real life, do_ _they_ _?"_

"Exactly???"

 _"Shut up you two and let Niall finish."_ Liam says.

_"Thanks! So what_ _I'm_ _saying is, stop ignoring him."_

"He never once told me he wanted to be friends with me..."

_"_ _Lou_ _, you know he's the shy_ _type_ _.. and above that,_ _he's_ _being ignored_ _."_

"Shy type, yes sir!" Louis mocks.

Niall squints his eyes, _"What do you mean?"_

"I mean, I'm literally his boyfriend, I KNOW how shy he is." He says as he is reminded of those times when Harry used to stare at him shamelessly, openly, crawling under his skin and then left him to be vulnerable this way.

 _"You were."_ Liam corrects his grammar.

"But, technically, we never broke up... it just happened that I went to jail and he forgot everything but we never verbally broke up, so yes, he's still my boyfriend!" He says in a single breathe, quite satisfied with himself while Liam and Zayn slapped their foreheads in unison like this was the dumbest thing Louis has ever said in his life of 20 years. He probably lost a bunch of brain cells after spending two whole years in jail.

 _"_ _Amazing, why don't you propose him to get_ _married_ _already?_ _"_ Zayn said in a monotonous way which earned him a middle finger from Louis.

 _"Guys,_ _I'm_ _still here..."_ Niall says as the good big brother that he is to Harry.

"That's amazing, Nialler!" Louis says with a massive grin and Niall tossed a bored and irritated look towards him, for a second Louis thought that he's about to get punched in the face but Niall's face bursted into laughter.

Niall always laughs like, 'HAHAHAHA' and Louis thought it was the most ridiculous kind of laugh ever, but very adorable at the same time. He remembers the day Niall found out and still trusted him with his entire chest. If it were not for Niall, they would've been dead.

Rest of the evening was spent with drinks and some stupid card bets which Louis has mastered after spending shit tonne of time with the prisoners. But their rule was, the one who loses empties a glass of the infamous pink drink which none was a fan of. At the end, Liam ended up throwing up on their table and they had to leave.

As the boys waited for Liam to get himself clean, Niall's phone started ringing. Louis glanced over the caller's name and his face started sparkling, it was Harry, he further proceeded to snatch the phone from Niall and gestured him to stay quiet.

"Hey baby!"

_"Niall?"_

"Oh? Are you his baby brother?"

_"Who_ _are_ _you?"_

"Can you guess baby?"

_"Can you please hand over the call to Niall?"_

"I'm sorry but your Nialler can't come to the phone right now.."

_"Why?"_

"Oh, cause he is dead...BANG!" He stops after making a sound of fired bullet from his mouth and regretted right after, there, he knew he crossed a line, his drunk self always crosses boundaries and gets in trouble. Louis' alcohol filled brain started to wake up to the rise of panic cause he KNEW that death and guns are the most sensitive topics one could ever bring up to Harry and still it was HIM who ended up doing that.

A beat passed between them and all Louis could hear from the other side was someone breathing, which didn't exactly sound like normal but didn't seem too dangerous either.

Niall standing next to him watched him in horror and Louis immediately handed him the phone.

FUCK YOU LOUIS! FUCK YOU!!- Louis swore at himself because how could he be the one causing Harry to panic.

 _"Harry?"_ Niall said, his voice low.

Louis doesn't know whether Harry answered from the other end but as Niall started talking, he thinks that probably things are back to normal.

_"_ _Haz_ _,_ _I'm_ _absolutely alright ok?_ _I'll_ _be_ _home_ _in 20.."_

_"It was Louis... yeah..."_

_"No... he was just_ _kidding_ _and he's very drunk right now so forgive him..."_

_"He won't.."_

_"There are Zayn and_ _Liam_ _too, ok? Now_ _you're_ _fine?"_ At that, a sudden rush of insecurity streamed through his body. Does Harry think that being with Louis was harmful? As his thoughts proceeded to get more and more devastating he was suddenly snapped out of them after hearing his voice once again.

 _"Good... see ya then."_ And Niall hung up the call.

"I'm so sorry...." Louis' voice just above the whisper, not sure whether he will be granted forgiveness. Something worse would've happened if the call were not handed to Niall at the very moment.

Niall sighed and squeezed Louis' shoulder gently, _"It's ok, Tommo... we're all drunk..._ _I_ _know you didn't intend to."_

What an angel is Niall Horan!! Louos thought to himself but in return he simply smiles.

****

"Hey Zaynie boy! What are you doing here?" Louis asks on meeting Zayn at the school's gate. 

_"Harry called and said he wanted to meet..._ _soo_ _..."_

"Oh.. let's hangout after this then?"

_"Ofcourse!"_

Louis spots Harry in the crowd heading towards them, or Zayn actually. Harry reached with a grin plastered on his face. 

_"Hey!"_ Zayn said with massive smile. 

_"_ _Heyyy_ _!!"_ Harry replied, matching the smile with Zayn's as they did fist bump kind of thing with some vague claps and high fives and pulled each other into a rough hug as Louis simply watched those dancing hands with utter confusion. Louis remembers greeting Zayn in such a way with hand gestures a little obscene. 

_"_ _What's_ _up?"_ Zayn asked. 

"Hey!" Louis says as the memories from the previous night hit him and guilt started to churn in his stomach.

_"Uh.._ _nothing_ _much.._ _just_ _wanted to ask_ _something_ _.. "_ Harry said ignoring Louis like if he weren't even standing there. 

_"Spit it out."_

_"Were you busy or did_ _I_ _mess up with your schedule or_ _anything_ _?"_ Harry asks, concerned about Zayn. Everyone should be nice to Zayn and must be concerned about him, especially because he is Louis' best friend, also you never know if he ends up being the world's biggest super model- Louis thought to himself. 

_"Nah, chill... had a short day at_ _uni_ _."_ Zayn reassured Harry. _"So what was it?"_

_"_ _Umm_ _... you know.._ _I_ _talked_ _to_ _you_ _about footie last week?"_

_"Yeah... what_ _about_ _it?"_ And suddenly Louis starts to grow anxious. He remembers when Zayn told him about it yesterday, so what if, Zayn suddenly recommends Louis to be Harry's coach? As much as he is anxious he is secretly excited too. 

_"Yeah and_ _I_ _don't think_ _I_ _want to learn_ _it_ _anymore_ _."_ Louis felt relieved but his excitement died down :( 

_"Oh then?"_

_"I think_ _I_ _want to learn some_ _musical_ _instrument? Like piano or something? What do you think?"_

Zayn doesn't reply for a moment and just simply looks at Harry into the eye and so does Harry. It's like they're having some sort of mental conversation with each other over which they both agreed. Louis is secretly jealous about this cause Zayn is his best mate, they used to do the same thing when they didn't feel like involving the third one with their conversation at all. 

_"I think it's a great idea, then!"_

_"Yeaaaah... and uh.."_

_"What Harry?"_

_"I heard_ _you're_ _good with your hands?"_

"Very good!" Louis replied with his index finger and thumb attached and rest three fingers stretched out. 

Just as the words left his mouth, his eyes widened with realization as to what he just said and Zayn snapped his neck towards Louis with wide eyes and a mischievous smile which whispered, "Oops!!" And Harry just stood there, confused, staring between the two boys. Also that was the first time he actually decided to acknowledge Louis. 

_"What do you mean?"_

"HANDS!" Louis' answer was quick as it was swirling at the tip of his tongue already. To which Harry's eyes narrowed, Louis fumbled with words slightly as he continued, "I mean what you were talking about, the same thing..." and leaves a deep sigh knowing all too well that he messed up. 

_"_ _Piano is_ _what_ _I_ _was_ _talking_ _about_ _..."_

"Yes! Piano!" His voice tight. 

_"The look you two shared seemed something else to me though..."_ Harry says suspiciously.

_"Piano... what about it?"_ Zayn interrupts and covers up for Louis. Don't know what he would've done without his Zaynie boy- Louis thought to himself.

_"Yeah... so_ _I_ _heard you're good at it, so could you teach me some?"_

_"Babe,_ _I'm_ _really_ _sorry_ _but_ _uni_ _is coming at_ _my_ _throat else I would have... why don't you ask Jade? She's the pianist of your band anyways..."_

_"_ _That's_ _ok... Jade is actually teaching Ed..."_

_"_ _Hmm_ _..."_ Zayn considers and slowly starts shifting his gaze towards Louis. As their eyes meet, Zayn's sparkle and a very knowing smirk crawls upon his face as Louis frowned so much, that his eyebrows started to knit together but then again there were tiny butterflies flapping in his stomach which he hated so much. 

_"Okay... but_ _I_ _know_ _someone_ _who can teach you!"_ Zayn says.

_"Who?"_

_"Louis!"_ And Louis swears he almost missed out on a heart attack as both the boys stared at him. Zayn still smirking with Harry being confused. 

_"Nah... not Louis..."_ Harry says with his tone full of judgment. 

_"You_ _haven't_ _heard him play mate! He was_ _like_ _the best at it!"_

_"Really?"_ Harry eyeing Louis with disbelief like if Louis is good at nothing but being mischievous. 

"Have you heard of 'The Rogue'?"

_"Yeah..? It was the most popular_ _school_ _band? What about it?"_

"I was the lead singer in it!" Louis flexed as Harry's jaw dropped in disbelief. 

_"_ _I'm_ _the lead singer of my band too... but_ _I_ _don't know how_ _to play_ _instruments so_ _being_ _the_ _lead_ _singer is not everything..."_ He managed to say a moment later with small traces of bitterness in his tone. 

"I started as the pianist for school's ballet performances." Zayn smiled lightly, he looked like a proud big brother. 

_"You think he can be trusted?"_ Harry asked shifting his attention to Zayn. 

_"Yeah... he is great at it and is proven to be_ _pretty_ _good of a teacher!"_

_"Proven?_ _Eh_ _?"_

_"Yeah... he used to teach Piano to younger kids at school to_ _earn_ _some extra money and credits."_

_"Oh.. ok.. then..but.. are you fine with_ _it_ _?"_ This time the question was directed towards Louis. 

"Yeah ofcourse!" Louis says with a massive grin touching both of his glimmering eyes. May God bless Zayn! He thinks. 

_"So when do we start?"_

"Tomorrow? If you're not in kind of hurry?"

_"Yeah sure..."_

"Me and Zayn..."

_"Zayn and I.."_ Harry corrected his grammar. 

"ME AND ZAYN are just going to nearby cafe by the way, wanna join us?" Louis said like if Harry didn't say anything. But Harry didn't roll his eyes as Louis expected, instead he flashed a hearty smile which worked wonders to Louis as warmth took over his body. 

_"Yeah, join us!"_ Zayn insists. 

_"Ok sure..."_ Harry says with his tone unsure. 

The three of them headed towards a cafe near their school. Spotting an empty table near the windows and settled there. 

Zayn and Louis made a chaos out of that time as Harry vibed with the other two being crazy besties who met years later. 

_"You two must've been the most popular duo of the school,_ _right_ _?"_

"Two hottest boys of the school being bestfriends? Hell yeah!" 

_"Two? Me and who else?"_ Zayn says teasingly. Harry laughs, he personally seems very pleased at looking Zayn make fun of Louis. 

"Hey curly! You seem very pleased with Zayn mocking me..." Louis said as he pretends to be offended and Harry chuckled flashing his beautiful dimples, cause Louis looks nothing more than an angry kitten. 

_"I meeeean, ofcourse?! Seems_ _like_ _he's the_ _only_ _one who can get_ _you_ _to shut up."_

"Not exactly-" Louis says as he remembered how Harry used to get him to shut up by kissing him. He gets a little melancholic at the memory as he can't get that anymore. 

_"Who else then? Your boyfriend?"_ Harry says with a smug smile. 

"Yess my boyfriend! He shuts me up by kissing me obscenely." As soon as he said it out loud, he regretted it, not for Harry but for himself cause now all he could think of is kissing Harry, kissing the smug off his face, feeling his soft lips upon him, feeling the fluttery flaps of his heart when they kissed, feeling the warmth as their bodies flushed against each other, he misses Harry. 

_"Who's your boyfriend?"_ Harry's deep voice cuts through his sentimental thoughts. He throws a glance at Zayn's direction who was already looking at him with an unsettled face knowing all too well where it was going. 

"Zayn is my boyfriend!" Louis declares with biggest smile on his face and Zayn's eyes widen with an expression with said, "What the fuck, Louis." But he was just smiling as big anyways. 

Harry pretends to be an angry kitten with hands on his waist forming a dangerous arch for his brows as he glares at Zayn, _"So you're_ _cheating_ _on me with him?"_

The ends of Zayn's lips twitch downwards and he asks Harry with puppy eyes, _"Can_ _I_ _not have two boyfriends?"_

_"Ok sure..."_ Harry chuckles and nods.

_"But_ _this is_ _sad how both of my boyfriends hate each other...."_ Zayn says with dramatically loud sigh as Harry's eyebrows shot up as he looked at Louis. 

_"I don't hate him."_ Louis could feel his lips quiver a little to form a smile but he tugged them in anyways. 

"I don't hate him either." 

_"Great! So both of my boyfriends now like_ _each_ _other and we can live in harmony!"_ Zayn says with fake enthusiasm by drumming on the table. 

_"I don't really like him...."_ Harry's reply came out immediately and Louis was definitely not expecting it. His smile fades and eyes drop when he says, it words stings into his chest bitterly. 

"Same." Is what he says, monotonously with his gaze downcast. He remembers when Harry used to tell him how much he loves him every chance he used to get and in return, Louis acted tough, he was so stupid, little did he know that he's not going to get it anytime soon. 

Or, probably never again.

He can feel Zayn's gaze over him as he zones back into the reality and hears Harry talking about his school and how science related subjects are the worst. They talk some more and order fish and chips with some light beer as Louis let's the bitter sting dissolve and burn in the acid of his stomach. They're being the most chaotic trio at the cafe at the moment with loud laughter and cheers and sass. 

_"_ _Guys_ _you two talk,_ _I'll_ _be_ _back_ _in five!"_ Zayn says getting up from his seat. 

_"Where to?"_ Harry asks and Louis thought that he felt insecure about being left alone with Louis. Also he is reminded of his conversation with Harry from the last night. 

_"Nature's call!"_ Zayn winks at Louis and leaves the two alone. "Fook you Zen!" Louis swore in his head and the way Zayn smiled back at it, seemed like he was thinking a little too loud. 

Louis and Harry sit in an awkward silence, sharing awkward- pursed- lipped smiles every once in a while, waiting for food, wandering eyes over the cafe and strangers leaving and entering the place, checking each other out secretly. 

Louis finally decides to break his silence with "I'm sorry..." his voice just above a whisper. 

_"About_ _what_ _?"_ Harry's eyes darts at Louis.

"Last night... I shouldn't have made such a joke..." 

_"Oh.. it's ok.. you didn't know anyways.."_

"I did..."

_"Oh.."_

"Yeah..."

_"It's ok..._ _you_ _were drunk..."_

"Yeah... but still..."

_"_ _Hmm_ _.. it's okay... hoping you won't do it again.."_

"I won't, never again." This time his voice was firm and speech pronounced. Harry simply nods at it. 

"I know it's just so shitty how I told you, PROMISED you, that I would never hurt you and look how it ended up being me who did it, who almost caused you a panic attack... and I'm really sorry about it... I mean it." Louis meant every single word of it and the way Harry looked at him, he knew he did, the awkwardness between them was replaced with an understanding and warmth. 

_"_ _Y_ _ou know... the other day at school, when you told me_ _you_ _won't hurt me in anyway,_ _I_ _believed it..."_

"I'm really sorry... I was drun-"

And Harry cuts him off, _"I still do."_ His eyes glimmered like glass, something intense within them, like warm colors were being painted on the glass but something just so unreadable. And Louis was left speechless. 

Harry. His Harry. Believed him. Still does. 

There was nothing nasty on his face but a gentle smile which radiated warmth. Louis opened his mouth, he wanted to say so much but all he was capable of was a, "Why?"

_"Cause I know."_

A smile spread across Louis' face, one matching Harry's. 

Just then, a waiter with their food comes tagged along with Zayn. The tension between Louis and Harry was resolved. Just as Zayn arrived, Zaynie booooyyy- Louis' heart cried cause he loves Zayn so much!! If it was not for him, he would've thought that Harry resented him for the rest of his life. 

"So why do you wanna learn Piano?" Louis asks. 

_"You know Taylor Swift? She's attending our school this year, has a_ _huge_ _social media platform and is also trying to get into the music industry, she uploads her_ _songs_ _on_ _YouTube_ _and_ _I've_ _heard_ _them,_ _they're_ _great.... and as you know_ _I_ _have this band White Eskimos, we can get her to side with us and she can probably help us promote our music since her social media platform is so big."_

"All for the band then?" 

_"Yes!_ _I'm_ _very dedicated to them."_

"Me too... I was very dedicated to my band." 

_"Yeah, The Rogue seemed to do_ _pretty_ _good among th_ _e_ _students of this city. Why did you guys stop?"_

"I took a break from school from two years, I had to look over my father's business for sometime..." it was not a complete lie though, neither was it the complete truth. He did work for his father's business but not in last two years. 

_"Oh..."_

_"He_ _is_ _like_ _the best son a_ _father_ _could ever have!"_ Zayn says with a very knowing and a proud smile. Ofcourse he is proud of Louis, he went through all of it and still came out to be stronger than ever. Back in the days, everytime they met, Zayn always told him that he is very proud of him, that he is really strong and brave. The two years he spent in the jail, Zayn used to visit him on most of the weekends, being the only ray of sunshine in the tall walled, dark cells. 

_"If_ _I_ _were him,_ _I_ _would've ran away and settled on some island."_ Zayn smiled to himself and Louis wants to hug him so tight right now, cause without Zayn, he would've ran away, too. 

After some more time they leave and go back home. Louis jumps in Liam's arms like a koala on opening the doors. 

"Paynooooo!!" 

_"_ _What's_ _up?_ _You_ _seem happy?"_ Liam said giggling like an adorable little pup Louis always thought he is. 

After putting Louis down he finally stops laughing, "Yeah spent the whole evening with Zayn and Harry!!" 

_"And left Payno alone?"_

"Are you really going to do that?" Louis pouts, throwing an unimpressed look towards Liam.

_"It was joke... anyways, if_ _you're_ _happy then so am I!"_

"That's like my Payno!" Louis says he starts leave for his room. 

_"Hey!_ _I've_ _been thinking for a while, let's go camping next month on Halloween?"_

Louis' eyes widened, turning around in surprise. "We have more than a month for it and you stayed planning already?!" 

_"_ _That's_ _what happens when_ _you_ _leave_ _Liam_ _Payne all alone with his thoughts_ _for_ _an_ _entire_ _evening!"_ Liam says and Louis wanted to snap at him but he won't cause Liam's eyes were actually shimmering today, he seemed very pleased with his own idea and excited at the same time. 

Louis' giggles starts chime and fill in the room lightly, "Sure! I would love that!" 

_"Yeah... also_ _I_ _want my first Halloween with Dani to be special..."_ Liam says as his cheeks glowed with a tint of pink. 

Louis' brows shot into his hair as a teasing smirk grows on his face, "SPECIAL! Right!" He says with a light tilt to his head to mock Liam. Colors on Liam's face changed from pink to bright red. 

_"Shut up, Tomlinson."_ He said while rolling his eyes with a grin plastered on his face. 

Louis goes back to his room, excited about the fact that he'll get to spend time with Harry, beginning tomorrow due to some piano lessons!


	9. It's okay

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Where Harry gets to know about Louis' past.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not trying to romanticize anything in any way by this chapter. This chapter just shows that at what lengths people could go to secure their pride and finances.
> 
> TW// Homophobia  
> CW// Serious parental issues , harsh language

|PAST|

When Harry woke up, the room was filled with dark voids as he sat up on his bed. City outside roared dully in the distance as cool breeze blew leisurely through the quiet room with soft shuffling sounds of flying curtains on the window. He felt calm, after a week full of throbbing anxiety he felt serene as he let go off of all the anger he had against the couple. He sat in the dark, feeling his heart beat evenly, peacefully, as he inhaled the tranquility of the calm surroundings.

He then let the memories of him running away flood back as little smile grew on his face, deciding not to leave this house for at least next couple of weeks.

He turned the bedside lamp on as the little part of his room aglow in dim yellow. Picking his phone, he started going through his texts and missed calls from last two days, there were many.... but... none belonged to his mom or dad, his face fell at that but again, he shouldn't have expected anything from them at all. Texts to Niall were still unanswered but now, he won't call or text him again until he is back because he knows that Niall is being hidden, somewhere safe and he definitely didn't want anyone to track down his conversations with him, the thought alone was frightening.

It's now eight PM as his stomach starts grumbling from hunger. He gets up from his bed and walks downstairs and into the kitchen in search of food, there is some leftover spaghetti and meatballs. When he was done eating, Roisin entered the kitchen and scowled as her eyes landed on the boy. Harry knows he is not allowed in the kitchen as he will get the place "dirty" for he belongs to streets, when she opened her mouth to remind him the same, Harry blurted with a wide smile.

"Hey ma!" He said with genuine enthusiasm, surprising his own self. He is not mad at them anymore, they did it to protect their son anyways, so now he knows no matter what, Niall will always be protected and safe.

Roisin threw a strange look at him and ignored him like if he weren't there and continued to do what she was supposed to.

Harry closes the long gap between them. "Can I ask you a question?"

She practically jumped in her place at the sudden intrusion, because well Harry, he never dared to go near the woman especially when she was busy. 

"Can I?" He asks again. He doesn't expect anything but he just wants to know how will they react if they knew what happened.

The perplexed woman eyed him as if he were possessed cause he was smiling impossibly big, and that, that was a sight Roisin never experienced for herself but her face stayed stern and cold, no traces of warmth lingered as her eyes flashed nothing but loath in return. Which didn't affect Harry in the slightest, the grin still plastered on his face.

 _"You_ _spent_ _all your_ _pocket_ _money?"_

"No... it's not that-"

She sighs deeply, _"First of all, stop smiling like that, it's ludicrous,_ _doesn't_ _suit you."_ She said bluntly.

Harry's face fell and her expressions were still equally cold, "Umm... ok?"

 _"What is it?"_ She huffed.

"I didn't come home for two days..."

_"So you want me to what? Pet you? For coming back here?"_

"No I mean.... you don't care if I ever go missing?"

 _"Remember that time when we purposely pretended to forget_ _you at_ _an amusement park? And you somehow came back_ _like_ _a lost puppy? Yeah."_

Memories of the day came back to light, how he was left alone there, strolling through the whole park by himself in search of someone who never needed him at all, how he cried when the clock struck the time when park was about to the get closed and he still couldn't find them. He got on a bus and when he reached home, he found out that the couple was already here who seemed totally unbothered with him being missing as Niall bawled his eyes out for him. His eyes felt numb at the memories. He was just thirteen and he had his answer.

No they don't care at all. But, just in case, if something wrong happens to him, will they care, will they sympathize?

He inhaled sharply, "But what if- what if someone would've like kidnapped me or something?"

 _"You're living with us for four years now, SON, you must know we don't care_ _about_ _what happens to_ _you_ _. I mean who wouldn't be happy if_ _the_ _biggest load of trash is been destroyed with zero efforts needed?"_ She stopped with a nauseous smile spreading across her barbaric face.

Her wounding words pierced right through his chest as tears started to sting at the corner of his eyes. He could feel his chest heave up and down painfully as his breath hitched terribly, at one point he feared it might stop. He felt his chest crushing internally due to the way his heart pumped the heated blood which rushed through his body in the scariest way possible.

All this time he thought that maybe, someday in future they will love him, accept him, treat him the way they treat Niall. That someday, he can be their son, the way they want, the way he wanted, but now it seemed bleak, impossible more than bleak. He had little hopes which helped him make himself better, which are crushed now.

He hadn't known the way he was hated in this household.

He finally opened his quivering lips and tears started to stream down his cheeks as he watched the smile on Roisin's face grow bigger and bigger with each drop that fell from his red eyes.

"Why?" He asked but his voice couldn't go higher than whisper. She raised her brow as if she was challenging him.

He gulps and starts talking, "I was kidnapped... and locked..." he breaths sharply, Roisin's eyes widen at this new piece of information as her smile slowly starts to falter, maybe, just maybe she cares, Harry thinks to himself as he continues, "I ran away.... aren't you happy I came back alive?"

She tilts her neck slightly towards left, _"Why did_ _you_ _come back?"_

And everything inside Harry breaks loose, tears speeded down his cheeks as he welled up all his broken pieces out, "W-why... d-do you ha-hate me so much?" He hisses, crestfallen, his life was on the line, he tired with everything he had in him to get back here and all she could do was ask him why is he back.

She chuckled coldly, _"First of all, you're from streets,_ _second_ _of all,_ _you're_ _gay, third, you do nothing but add_ _useless_ _burden_ _on_ _this family. YOU are the_ _reason_ _this family's reputation is at stake, Harry. So why would_ _I_ _be happy if the unwanted_ _trash_ _comes back?"_ And she left the room leaving Harry tormented.

All the emotions rushed over him in a flash. His throat burned and skin itched with hurt as tremor took over his fragile self, his body could hold it no longer as his shaky feet gave up on the the body and he fell on his knees, gut wrenching sobs slipped from his mouth, he wanted to scream all his misery out but his throat didn't allow him, it grew tighter and drier and left him with no energy to scream.

He was told a several times before that he was useless or belongs to streets or is not liked cause he is gay, not like they didn't trouble him, they did, but not as much as they do now- given the condition. He didn't know he was so badly despised in the house, so much resented that they won't care if someone kidnaps him or anything such. Sorrow tackled his mind worse than it was supposed to be as the bitter memory from amusement park was brought to light. He never thought about any of it much, all he ever focused on was school, books and spending good time with Niall... but now... when everything is voiced so loudly in front of him, it makes him weak.

He doesn't want to be such a burden, such a sight for sore eyes, he wants to run away and hide from the world. He rushes back to his room, picks his bag which was thrown and stuff it with a few pairs of clothes and some other necessary things like his phone, money, charger, books etcetera. He doesn't know where to go or where to hide, he just knows that he wants to run away.

It's around 9:30 PM and he is wandering on streets with his bag. He strolled far from his house so there's no returning as he walks in vague directions. The summer nights of June are healing, the low tropical breeze enveloping him and caressing his broken skin gently. He continued walking quietly along the swiftly dancing trees as the roaring city never stopped laughing at him.

He doesn't know where to go and the only name that pops up in his head is "VAN DOREN GATES, HAZELWOOD DRIVE" written boldly in white gold, shinning across the matte black acrylic plate fitted exquisitely over the Italian fieldstone walls surrounding the mansion elegantly. He read the name when he stepped out of the gate.

Now that's the only place he can think of, he knows that eventually Louis or any other men would find him and put him in that basement again. Without a second thought he gets in a cab and blurts out an address to the driver, who for some unknown reason, threw a strange look at his way.

It was a thirty minutes drive. On the way to mansion all Harry could think about is Roisin, "Am I so pathetic? That you hate me like that? Am I so ugly? Why can't you accept me? I must be a piece of shit after all- good for nothing, just a disappointment to everyone.... fucking burden is what I am..." his brain echoes back at him, all the thoughts dangerous and disheartening, his eyes go numb but somehow the wind seemed to wipe all of his tears away and cradled his face delicately, almost trying to provide him with comfort that he needs the most. His puffy eyes crinkled ever so softly at the presence of his abstract haven as his lips slowly stretch into a smile.

*********

In no time he found himself standing in front of the prodigious metal gate, it was open. He swallowed and pushed the door open as he started walking along the pitch black and endless sidewalk, trying to get his way to the house. The uncanny settling in his stomach as he walked past the garden statues and fountains whose shadows appeared like something straight out of a horror book. The rustling trees on the side are making the quiet surrounding chillingly eerie as the knot in his tummy tightens.

He now suddenly regrets being here, while being at the Horan's, at least he didn't feel like living in some horror house where witches would start their hunt when the clock hits twelve at midnight. He won't be surprised if he finds one here, the mansion is too big to not have a coven conquering the place. His eyes are trying to pierce through the misty dark but his sight couldn't reach any longer than four meters.

A sudden squeal slips from his mouth at the creaking sound of twigs fallen on the ground as he steps on them. He finally turns on the torch from his phone whose wavelength isn't helping but something is better than nothing- he thinks to himself. After some more small hallucinations of noises and shadows he reaches closer to the house. The strange thing is, the lights are on, it's almost half past ten and there's no way there would be anyone in there at this time unless the owners are back or the place is really haunted by a coven.

He climbs up the foyer which seems forever to him as he just never ceases from falling on them. On reaching the door which seemed elegant and classy in the daylight and now looks like a possessed entryway he pushes it slightly and surprisingly, it's open too. The door opens just by centimeters by making a small creaking sound which makes Harry jump at his place. Heart thudding in his mouth as he pushes the door open with teeth dug deep inside his cushion lips.

There laid the long entryway, completely lit in yellows with wall mounted lamps making the place seem even more alluring than it did in the morning when he left. He walked through it and took a turn which he remembered as the one that would take him to the living room again.

On entering the living room he stood dead in his tracks because there was someone lying on that covered sofa set in the center. His eyes widen as he panics at the scene in front of him, "Is that the owner? Or is it someone or some group which uses this place as their shelter of illegal businesses? Or is the house really possessed?!" A lot of thoughts rush to his mind as it starts throbbing and his breathe hitches dangerously.

He gets closer to the body which currently seemed dead to the world, as he approaches the place he feels that the curves of that body look familiar, especially the arse. As he carefully places his docile steps and walks slowly towards the sofa, the phone in his hands slips from his sweaty hands making a thud disturbing the quiet equilibrium on falling. His eyes suddenly dart at the boy lying who is now taking turns in his place as he slowly starts to get up, rubbing his eyes. 

IT'S LOUIS!

The fuck is he doing here?!? Harry wonders as Louis turns around trying to find the source of the noise that disturbed his beauty sleep. His azure eyes widen on meeting the hazel greens as panic rushes into them. He quickly stands straight staring at Harry wide eyed and all Harry could wonder is why, why is Louis panicking. Petrified feelings mix with the bewilderment of the situation.

 _"What the fuck?!"_ Louis hisses loudly under his breathe.

"Wha-what?" Harry stutters as chills run down his spine.

 _"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING HERE?"_ now proper infuriated Louis yells at Harry throwing him in a whole different stage of perplexity and hysteria because, yeah he is back?? What's wrong?

"You and that friend of yours said that I'll need to stay here for next forty five days-?" Harry says in a low voice.

Louis' eyes widen looking visibly annoyed, _"Are_ _you_ _that stupid? No like seriously?! Do you think_ _I'm_ _that_ _big_ _of an idiot who'd leave_ _the_ _door open ACCIDENTALLY for you?! ARE YOU FUCKING CRAZY?!"_ His pitch rises with each word, _"I left_ _the_ _door OPEN so you_ _could_ _fucking RUN and_ _look_ _at you! THE FUCK YOU'RE BACK FOR?! Have you lost_ _your_ _mind or_ _something_ _pal??"_

Harry was practically shaking, he've had enough of people yelling at him for today and telling him that he is useless or brain dead or whatever it is. "First of all, stop fucking yelling, okay? And second of all- didn't you say you'd be dead if you'll let me go? Was that all for a show then-"

Louis cuts him off as anger practically boils through him, _"YOU are being_ _pathetic_ _and have no right to tell me_ _to stop_ _yelling and for_ _the_ _fucks sake_ _that was_ _no joke! I_ _would've_ _found a way out in FORTY FIVE days!"_

Harry sighs deeply and a scowl starts to break through his pale face as tears start to prickle from his eyes, "Stop! Please..." his voice just above a whisper.

At this Louis' face soften a little, _"Why did you comeback?"_

"Cause I don't wanna be there..."

_"Your home?"_

"That's not my fucking home!" He says in a shaky, broken voice.

Louis walks to him with concern written over his face. _"Hey..._ _what's_ _wrong? Is it_ _because_ _of me?"_ he speaks in a soft raspy voice as he gently pats Harry's shoulders. 

"Mum..."

 _"Do you wanna sit?"_ Without waiting for his response, Louis makes him a place on the sofa by taking off it's white covers and beating the dust off of it. _"Sit and now tell me, what is it_ _about_ _your_ _mum?"_ He says and strokes Harry's back gently as he leans into the touch. He likes this, someone being there for him. Harry doesn't care whether the warmth is from Niall or a complete stranger, he just likes it, likes to know that he is not alone.

He started speaking once his breathe went back to normal and he had a grip on his voice once again, "When I told her about the whole situation, do you know what is that she asked me? She asked me why was I back-" he looked over at Louis to find him frowning at what he just heard but he didn't interrupt and let Harry talk.

"...and..." his voice grew smaller as he spoke "and... then all she did was... was.. tell me... how useless I am and... how big of a pile of trash I was and how they're ashamed of me and how I'm a burden... to them..." he ends up with his voice soft like a whisper with his words cracking as tears start to sting at the back of his eyes.

He lifts his gaze to look at Louis, his furrowed brows were now knitting into each other and he looked scary with his already sharp jaw clenched that way. His eyes were red, like if he's holding back from tears falling and Harry, he feels selfish for feeling the warmth coming from Louis, for how disappointed Louis looked and was trying to hold back his own tears.

Louis slowly places his hand on Harry's head and tucks him in his chest and for Harry, that little place is like his sweet safe haven for now as Louis ruffled through his hair, gently stroking his curls and holding him. And for Harry, that's all he needs right now, warmth and comfort.

Louis' breathe stuttered lightly as he spoke, _"Babe... I'm so sorry that happened... it'll be alright, sooner or later it will..."_

Harry looks up at him with hopeful eyes, "They will?"

Louis nods looking down at him where he was resting his head on his chest with a gentle smile growing on his face, _"They will."_ He whispers as his breathe brushes against Harry's temples softly. Harry is not sure whether they ever will but he likes to have a little hope rather than sitting and blankly staring at the ceiling.

Louis now sits straighter without losing his hold on Harry but he somehow slips out of the comforting touch even if his body denies to do so as he sits straighter. 

_"Let me tell you my story so you might feel better about yourself."_ He says in a low voice and Harry nods as his "Only if you knew" echoes back at him. Louis throws an assuring look at Harry before he starts speaking and something inside Harry flutters. 

_"I work under the England's biggest mafia Don, Derrick Morgan...."_ at this Harry's throat goes dries as chills take over his body and he starts to widen the gap between him and Louis. 

Louis chuckles lightly at this, but he didn't seem to laugh on Harry though, it looked more like he were laughing at himself. _"Don't worry, I won't hurt you, I promise..."_ after a little pause he continues, _"I know I made a promise before and it was eventually broken... but this time it won't..."_ Harry nods slowly with his heart pounding as he lessens the gap between them again and watches Louis as a small smile plays on his lips. 

Louis sighs deeply and starts talking again, _"So... my father does business.. don't worry it's nothing illegal though I think. But just as he is one of the biggest businessman in the UK, he somehow was acquaintances with Derrick."_

 _"it's like three years ago... I was like fifteen or something when I came out to my parents but their reactions weren't the best... actually quite the opposite, they took me to church so the Jesus could heal me.... I became the black sheep of family when they caught me kissing a boy at a party... it was also the year when my cousin- Mr Perfect- started to live with my family for school... he instantly became everyone's favourite and me... I was the one everyone hated... we were equally good at everything... just the difference was that he liked business and I liked sciences.... he was NORMAL and I was their gay son... ignored like I didn't exist.."_ he takes a pause and takes a deep breathe in, trying to calm his nerves. 

And Harry just sits, listens and observes Louis. He observes how his brows twitch at the mention of his dad, how his tone gets bitter when he talks about his cousin, how his voice cracks ever so lightly that you won't notice if you aren't paying enough attention and how his mouth curled downwards at the sour and bitter memories but he neither speaks nor moves. He remembers his coming out and how the couple went like "Aha a new way to disappoint us!" He starts frowning at the ugly memories and Louis starts talking again. 

_"it was the same year when my father's company was at the verge of getting bankrupt and he hated me with everything inside him... he blamed it on me... me being a sinner jinxed his business... oh my God... the next one is fucking funny!"_ he said as tears started to accumulate in his glassy blue eyes as the shade of red turned darker with every word that left his mouth.

It was Harry's turn to ease his grief away as he tucks Louis closer to him, the boy was physically smaller than him and even fragile... and right now he is being so vulnerable in front of him, it feels like even a small blow of harsh wind would break him. Louis starts talking again as Harry gently strokes his back, providing comfort.

 _"so he went bankrupt... and asked Derrick for money... and just as cruel as Derrick is... he asked for me... to be be the mortgage... and my FATHER... my fucking FATHER didn't even flinch or THINT of it once to say no... not even once... and I became their debt instrument..."_ and Louis breaks into harsh sobs and even if Harry wanted, he couldn't bring himself to wipe his tears off... Louis was shaking as more and more tears escaped from his eyes endlessly, burning down his cheeks which looked like a fragile piece of paper that would turn into mesh if the crying doesn't stop. 

And Harry just sat there in hideous silence, stunned, disgust churning into his stomach cause WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK?!!? Who could ever be so heartless to do that to their own fucking SON?? He starts feeling nauseous at the words that just left Louis' mouth as how could one be so blindedwith money that they could be so fucking filthy. Repugnance staggered throughout his body as a will to punch Louis' father in the face grew stronger in him. 

Louis, beautiful, sweet, caring Louis was being eaten by vultures this way is very painful to even hear. He doesn't know Louis much... but even from those 24 or some hours they spent, he can tell that Louis is someone who never wants to hurt anyone in anyway. It's like he's almost scared to hurt anyone any further... the look Louis threw his way when he left him alone in that basement just explains everything now. 

Harry shifts in his place and sits in a way where he is facing Louis' side. He spreads his arms wide open and embraces Louis into his chest as tears never stop pouring and Louis holds onto Harry's tee. Harry buries his chin in Louis' neck and gently ruffles through his feather like hair providing as much comfort as he could. 

All he could think of right now is Louis, how he wants to hold him forever like this, hide and protect him from the ugly nauseating world and provide a sweet haven to him. But something clicks and suddenly the idea of forever scares him... cause... it has been barely two days since he met Louis... he could not be thinking of forever already as he cussed himself for thinking this way. 

_"Do you_ _feel_ _better_ _now_ _?"_ A small raspy voice vibrates from his chest as he looks down with tears burning behind his eyes. 

"I feel worse... I'm so sorry..." 

Louis spreads his arms further and wraps them around Harry's waist and buries his face in the crook of his neck. His muffled breathe tickling the skin of Harry's neck as he presses Louis further into his embrace. 

The Louis he first met looked so intimidating, so big and confident in front of him and now, when he is in Harry's arms, completely vulnerable with all the his guards down, he looks so fragile, so soft, so small. 

At that Harry's eyes widen with sudden realization. Louis revealed the darkest side of his past to him, dragged all his walls down and opened so much to him so he could feel better about his life, he could feel better about himself. He spread all of his broken pieces in front of him so Harry could gather his. He feels his cheeks get wet from tears. 

"Why don't you ever leave it?" Harry asks, his voice echoing in the stillness of the room louder than it was intended to. 

Louis slowly raises his head, his puffy yet warm blue eyes with Harry's. He sniffs lightly, _"I have six sisters, Harry..._ _I_ _don't care if my father's_ _business_ _dies or they go bankrupt... all_ _I_ _care_ _about_ _is_ _I_ _don't wanna see my_ _sisters_ _live a miserable life because some irrelevant men fucked up."_

Harry nods, requirement of actions given the condition hits him as his left hand unintentionally forwards to cradle Louis' face. He places his hand gently on Louis' cheek, fingers curling around his neck whilst he rubbed the thumb against his cheekbones tenderly. 

Feeling the delicate and soft skin quiver against the pads of his fingers makes him flinch but in no time Louis' nerves soothed down to normal as he leaned into the gentle touch. 

"It's going to be alright!" Harry says as he surprises himself with the rising confidence in his voice. 

Louis throws a small and warm smile at him, _"It will..."_ he nods his head shortly. 

Warmth blossoming through his body as his cheeks flaunt the little tint of red across. A buoyant smiles covers his face with his little dimples starting to peek out as his eyes crinkled. Louis chuckled softly and Harry feels his face getting flushed. 

His hand still on Louis' cheek, the little gentle contact became the source of their warmth but makes him retract his hand as Harry's smile gradually falls. 

_"I think you can sleep_ _here_ _tonight as it's too late right now, leave tomorrow morning."_ Louis says.

Harry's eyes widen at this, he doesn't want to go back to Roisin and Patrick... not just yet.. especially not when Roisin did such a word vomit in front of him, for him, to hurt him the way it did. 

"I don't wanna go back to them." His voice firm. 

A frown forms on Louis' face and Harry's heart drops, _"You can't stay here..._ _I_ _don't wanna be any sort of_ _kidnapper_ _and tie you to that chair again... you_ _must_ _leave_ _."_

"I don't want to... I can't bare to see their faces... not just yet..." 

_"So you came here?"_ Confusion spreading across his face. _"Why didn't_ _you_ _choose to go at some cousin's place? Or_ _grandparents_ _?!"_

"I don't know who are they..." Harry says in a small voice and the room falls silent. He wants Louis to say something as tranquility scares him as every second passed between them without another word exchanged. 

After a long moment of silence, Louis finally speaks, _"Oh..._ _I'm_ _so sorry..."_

"It's ok." 

_"So who exactly are you?"_

"I'm Harry Styles... I was an orphan and lived on the streets... then one day I met Niall, when I was eleven and he was on his school's picnic and we somehow became friends and then the next thing I remember is that I was adopted by the Horan family as they told me "Niall simply won't stop talking about you"... so that's that..." he finally stops. 

Louis seems to process the information revealed to him as visibly more questions arouse to him, _"So why does no one know about_ _you_ _? And only Niall?"_

"They want me to be hidden from the world... because... I belong to streets and secondly Patrick has rumors going on with Amber Knight you know?" 

_"Ohhhh those rumors! Oh_ _God_ _... all of it is so fucking terrible..."_ concern genuine in his voice. 

Harry purses his lips in agreement and shrugs. _"You're really_ _strong_ _Harry..."_

"So are you..." 

_"But as far as I know, Niall_ _attends_ _Pioneer High, one of_ _the_ _most prestigious_ _schools_ _but when_ _I stalked you... you_ _used_ _to_ _attend_ _some community school- St. Joseph or something?"_

"I mean... ofcourse I'm not getting the best, right?" 

Louis' brows rise a little but he doesn't say anything. 

_"Then... let's do this... you're free to come and_ _leave_ _anytime you want okay? I won't bind you up_ _or_ _anything..."_

"Then... what about you?"

_"What about me?"_ Perplexity written over his face but suddenly his eyes widen from realization. Harry can't live in a mansion that huge alone ofcourse!

_"Ohh..._ _I'll_ _stay_ _here as_ _long_ _as you do,_ _that's_ _alright_ _?"_ He chuckles fondly. 

Harry feels his face heating as he nods bashfully which only gets Louis to giggle loudly. As both the boys burst in laughters and Harry tries to hush Louis down as he is full on blushing right now.

_"It's late..._ _I_ _think_ _we need sleep."_

"Yeah... do I have to sleep in the basement?" He asks, half hoping to get a peaceful sleep on a fluffy bed. 

_"Ofcourse not! We have this whole mansion to ourselves! But_ _I'll_ _show you the way."_

It's a huge place as Harry expected it to be and pretty ornate at the same time with picturesque frames hung on the walls and designer rugs spreading in on the floor in it's beautiful glory. Antics embellished throughout the house or at least as far as he's seen. The word Harry would like to describe this place will be with "dreamlike". 

_"_ _I'll_ _be in the_ _neighbouring_ _room!"_ Louis says as they walk into a spacious and lavish bedroom. Harry is too tired to look around at the details and all he can see is the bed, welcoming him with loud cheers and bands, trying to pull him in its fluffy warm embrace. 

"By the way!" Harry suddenly says as Louis jumps at his place and quirks his brow, questioning. 

"This place is not haunted right?!" 

And Louis bursts in hysterics laughters and Harry huffs in pretentious annoyance, _"No_ _darling_ _, it's not haunted or_ _anything_ _!"_ He exclaims through uncontrolable giggles.

Harry feels butterflies at the little pet name Louis addressed him with but again, that's the most British thing to do- he thinks to himself. STUPID BUTTERFLIES! He scowls at them internally and rolls his eyes and flops down on his bed with his head buried inside his pillow. He hears Louis wishing him goodnight before the door clicks behind him. 

And after sometime, Harry falls asleep with a peaceful state of mind. 


	10. Piano lessons

|PRESENT|

Louis is very excited to go to school today, actually, for the school to end so he gets to spend time with his baby while giving him piano lessons. He is going to put some extra efforts in dressing up today so he doesn't end up in his plain tees or regular skinnies or bland hoodies or sweats and leaves a good impression upon Harry.

So he finally decides to walk in his closet with all the expensive clothing and brands and his favorite smells in it. This is the place where all his untouched shirts, dress pants, blazers and other fancy pieces lie. Last time he visited here, it was for someone's wedding which was ofcourse two years ago. It's the thing he hates the most about himself, he'll buy all the nice things from internet and then dump them here without glancing at them ever again and he seriously needs to stop doing that and get rid of all the worn out clothes he wears on the daily, IT'S HIS TIME TO SHINE!! He is dramatic, very, yes.

When he walks through those clothing rails he wonders whether any of it would fit him anymore. His fingers brush lightly against the soft material of shirts as he walks by. That's when a white shirt with very graphic black prints all over caught his eye, he immediately takes it out and wishes that it fits him and surprisingly it does. Next he searches for slacks that would fit as he pulls out a black pair, neither too formal nor too casual, just perfect. He slips in his slacks, tugs the shirt loosely in it as the pants fit him well higging his arse brilliantly. The shirt loose over his shoulders and the half buttoned style adds more bold touch to the over all look as a black leather belt clasps tightly around his tiny waist and Louis loves it. For the last fine addition he puts on a silver chain with silly locket clung to it as his hair is styled in a tousled quiff, one not so high and puts his favorite smell-- Tom Ford tobacco vanille on.

When he glances over the mirror one last time, he does realize that he is indeed a bit extensively dressed, the way he never does and it becomes obvious when he saw the looks his sisters threw his way. Cause the boy who refuses to get out of hoodies and skinny jeans is extravagantly dressed today. When Liam's eyes fall upon him, his jaw practically lies on the floor.

"Stop looking at me like that..." Louis says in a low voice as his cheeks start to redden.

 _"Louis... do you have_ _fever_ _, honey?"_ His mum asks as he enters the kitchen and he slowly shakes his head left and right.

_"Louis...?"_

"Yes lottie?"

She opens her mouth but words don't come out. He glances over at Liam who is full on grinning at him, so Liam knows! Louis nods at himself mentally while others are just sat in their chairs, staring with their eyes popping out.

 _"_ _Heard you and Harry have same classes?"_ His mum says teasingly as he almost misses his seat and falls on the floor at the mention of Harry's name.

He coughs, a bit exaggerated than necessary and the table bursts into loud laughters. He could feel his cheeks almost burning from all the heat and blood streaming to them. His tanned skin is now red like an apple as embarrassment flushes over him.

 _"Get that boy, Lou!"_ Elated voice mingling into cheers at the table comes from Lottie and Louis rolls his eyes, almost trying hard not to grin.

The last thing he wants right now is Liam opening his mouth, which, he still hasn't and Louis is very grateful about it.

 _"Heard you're going to give him piano_ _lessons_ _... after school?"_ Liam adds fuel to the fire sitting across him and receives a kick from Louis in the foot as Louis' heart is shattered into million pieces and his head drops to his knees, cause?? Liam?? Out of all people?? Turned out to be the traitor??

The great offense of infidelity hurting his pride. The audacity to vex the queen this way! Aah our drama queen Louis is back!!

 _"Oww!!"_ Liam groans as Louis kicks him in the foot once more.

 _"Louis! Hurt him_ _once_ _more and you're eating avocado toast for a week!"_ Florence chuckles lightly throwing a dramatically angry look at him.

Louis' gasp overly exaggerated, his eyes wide like a character from comic book as his hand flies to his chest, "What have I ever done to you!??" He cries in a cartoonish way, deliberately leaving traces of extreme damage caused to his pride.

How could the queen eat avocados after all?!

Everyone at the table rolls their eyes and groans together, "C'mon! What?"

 _"You're not the Oscar winning actor you think you are Louis!"_ Daisy pops her head out of her plate, smiling impishly.

"I'll tickle you until you apologise to my honor!" Louis says in an irate tone as he continues to hold back his obvious smile and giggles.

Before Daisy could say anything, Florence interrupts, _"Shut up you two and eat... Louis_ _you would_ _definitely not want to be_ _late_ _and be scolded later in front of Harry!"_ She teases and Liam chuckles as Louis throws a glare at his way. But at the end, he couldn't help and a loud laughter slips his mouth.

They're all so ridiculous and he loves them so much!

*********

On his way to school, he thinks of how it used to be with his family. Whenever he used sit at the table, it used to be so heated and ugly and now he is so welcomed and loved by everyone. Even if things are still a little tense and awkward with his father for he is guilty of what he did to his son but he learnt how to accept Louis the way he is.

On entering the school gate, he could suddenly feel too many eyes piercing through his body as people start to whisper among themselves in great amazement, because as much as he knows this was once in blue moon kind of sight but he had to admit, he looked amazing with his inner diva popping out. 

_"Looking hot Tomlinson!"_ A brunette, just a tad shorter than Louis said with a smirk across her face. Louis doesn't really remember her but they probably shared a class or two sometime in the past. He just smiles at her in response and rushes through the perplexed and amused crowd into the classroom. 

Right after placing his foot in the class, he could feel all the eyes lingering over him. He raises his gaze to scan around the astonished faces and when he finds the one he was looking for he flushes and quickly settles in his seat. Shivers running down his spine as the hair on his skin started to stand and his heart lurched dangerously with butterflies ridiculously flapping in his tummy.

He hates those stupid creatures lingering in his gut all the time when he sees that one stupid face with stupidly beautiful green eyes and stupid wide smile that shows off his ridiculously cute bunny teeth and dimples that he'd never get tired of poking into.

And oh God, Harry looked so?? Amused? Stunned? Amazed? Shocked? Disgusted? Pleased?

Thoughts speeding up in his head as the red on his cheeks deepen with all the blood rushing to his face. He swears to the God that he is NEVER wearing anything nice to school ever again. The single experience was hair raising and that was enough of adrenaline for next ten years of his life.

Now as far as Louis remembers, Harry looked at him with wide eyes, brows shot into his hair and an amused smile trailed on his ridiculously pink lips. He... looked... impressed? By the new look? Louis dares to question himself but can't get himself to answer it. But he secretly wishes the answer is yes.

Someone knocks on his desk and he snaps out his thoughts and almost jumps out his seat. His eyes flew to the source of sound and it was their Chemistry teacher. Also he is that one teacher who is not very much fond of Louis and today, when he didn't even notice that the class has begun and with the way he is dressed up- all experimental and gorgeous, he is totally screwed.

_"Tomlinson."_ He says in a deep and intimidating voice like an order for Louis to get and so he does. 

Mr. Higgins, the chemistry teacher nods with satisfaction, _"Is it your birthday today?"_

"No." Louis says in a small voice, his hands clasped in front of him.

Mr. Higgins eyes him from head to toe, _"So can_ _I_ _ask you what was is it so important that you were thinking_ _about_ _when_ _I_ _entered_ _the_ _classroom that_ _you_ _didn't even bother to wish?"_

"I'm sorry..." 

_"_ _You're_ _all dressed up..."_

"I know, and what about it?!" Louis wants to snap at his teacher but he stays quiet cause he (probably) knows better. 

_"_ _Anything_ _special today?"_ Louis shakes his head. 

_"I think you being dressed up this way has_ _something_ _to do with_ _you being absent minded during school,_ _also_ _, what_ _made_ _you think that this kind of look shall be allowed when you're in school's periphery? The prints are absurd and you do_ _know_ _that."_

"I'm sorry... it won't happen again.." 

_"Button up your shirt and go_ _back to_ _your place!"_ His voice cutting. 

Louis does as asked. His face red with humiliation as he slips back into his seat. Before turning around to face the teacher, he most definitely throws a little subtle glance at Harry to find him frowning and glaring at the teacher instead of laughing like most of the students did, which is? kind of? pleasing?

He doesn't know why he felt goosebumps and butterflies started their annoying dance again after seeing Harry frown like that. For the rest of the day, he tried with every inch of his muscle to not let his mind waver and drift off to different world of his fantasies and somehow he made it to the last lecture, which was Mrs. Lawrence's, Louis' favourite and also the one who is very much fond of him. 

_"Looking handsome, Louis!"_ Mrs. Lawrence says as her eyes falls upon the boy, a gentle and genuine smile on her face. 

"Thanks!" Louis says in a low voice but very much delighted. He always liked Mrs. Lawrence the most, she is the coolest teacher of this school. 

_"But, why is your shirt buttoned all the way up to your collar? Was it Mr. Higgins again?"_ She asks as Louis slowly nods. 

She takes a step back and stands straight to face the whole class as she speaks, _"Kids, no matter what happens in other classes, in my_ _class_ _you're going to be yourself and learn! Other teachers can but_ _I_ _can't survive a_ _lesson_ _where kids are giving me suffocating looks."_ She eyes Louis, _"You can put your shirt the way you want, collars must be stifling."_

Louis' cheeks are coloured with the lightest tint of pink as he unbuttons his shirt, just first two buttons below the collar. It is kind of awkward but the collar was choking him. 

_"More like it!"_ She chuckles as she continues with the lecture. And Louis, his fingers won't stop fidgeting as he waits for this class, which was the last one for today, to get over. He feels a little selfish to think this way because Mrs. Lawrence was being just so nice. 

When the bell rings and teacher leaves the class, Louis springs out of his seat and rushes outside the room with his bag. On reaching outside the class is when he realizes that he should've waited for Harry in the class itself! Now Harry's going to think that he is irresponsible and forgot about the piano lessons. "Dang!" He swears under his breathe and decides to stand outside the classroom for Harry anyways.

 _"I thought you left..."_ a low murmur from the side makes him bounce in the place. It was Harry!

"I'm not as irresponsible as you think I am." Louis is shocked at how the words are leaving his mouth just as normally.

Harry just shrugs as Louis expects him to speak but he doesn't. 

"So... let's go then?" 

_"Yeah..."_

"Are you scared? I won't bite I swear!" 

And finally a chuckle slips from Harry's mouth and Louis internally praises himself. _"It's not that... just..._ _I_ _don't know what to say? And if you could give me some time?"_

Louis's eyes widen a little at the "give me some time". "Ofcourse Harry. You can have all the time you want." And then they walk in comfortable silence and out of the main school building. 

_"Where will you teach me by the way?"_

"The music room?" 

Harry just nods and follows. 

"How is it already full?!" Louis is absolutely stunned with the number of people filling up the room as he stands outside the room and gapes at them. 

_"I think_ _they're_ _practising_ _for some band competition?"_

"Why are you not?" 

_"We compete with bands from_ _other_ _schools now..._ _they're_ _probably doing the_ _selection_ _round..."_ Louis nods in agreement. 

"We have one more music room!" 

It was full too. And they're back at strolling along the school grounds, thinking of what can be done. As they quietly walk around and think, Louis breaks the silence. 

"So first tell me how much do you know?"

_"Umm... just a few basics... but I don't quite remember-?"_

"How did you guys compose music for the band then?" 

" _I mean for piano... Jade used to tell me about a few basic chords and I just used to play random notes and chords on it... so.. it was all just her recommending some tunes, me noting down the tune I played.... I_ _know_ _that's not_ _how it's done..but.."_ his face turning pink. 

Louis nods considering, "It's okay... so shall we start from the beginning?"

_"Yeah."_

That's when something clicks and Louis stops abruptly, "I think we can go somewhere!" 

_"Where?!"_

"Come.." Harry follows closely behind him as Louis walks with very knowing smirk on his face.

"Here!" 

They stop in front of a creaky looking wooden door labelled with "storage" which was right behind the the main school building. It was not a place in complete solitude as there were still many other kids playing, some warming up for their footie practice while some working out on their tennis. 

_"Storage?"_

"Basement-cum-storage." 

They open the door which, as expected, made a creaking sound making the whole thing feel like a scene from a horror movie. Louis rushes down the stairs and a wide grin stretches across his face when he sees that spacious room being just the way it used to be, and well illuminated and clean. 

"Leave the door open and come down here!" He calls back at Harry who was looking down from above in amusement. 

There were stacks of old papers and bills in one corner with many bigger stacks of school books wrapped up with plastic sheets and tied with strings. Sports and gym equipments like different kinds of balls, rackets, nets, dumbbells rested in properly wrapped bubble wraps and some even boxed occupying pretty much of an area. A few boxes labelled as "costumes" placed randomly throughout the room and some stacked chairs. 

"This is our royal basement!" Louis cheers while spreading his arms open showing off the place with a massive smile on his place when Harry climbs down. He feels stupid for what he is doing right now, but Louis is not someone who gives any fucks about it.

_"Why royal?!"_

"'Cause basements hold a very special place in my heart"

_"Hence royal?!"_

"Royal places are valuable, consists of antics... so does a basement of every building, consists of all the antics and is a very valuable place to me." He says and has no idea why is he talking the way he is. 

The only thing he is perfectly aware of is that all of it started in a basement and later grew into an entire home in a nick of time. Just him, Harry and the whole empty mansion for themselves they spent their days in, in each other's arms. 

Aah memories, memories, too many memories and Louis can't do anything about it but keep them to himself. It aches him how the most precious memories he ever had were shared between just the two of them... and now... Harry doesn't remember any of it. 

He's holding onto one end of a rope while the other one is just lying lose across his feet. 

_"What's so royal about this basement though? I don't see any antics? Or valuables?"_ He practically jumps at his place hearing Harry speak again. 

Pointing at one corner Louis speaks, the smile never leaving his face, "Look at those vases, drawings, paintings, projects, models... you do know that they're all created by students right? Some are here from years ago. Before you started attending here, before I started attending here... look at the way they're preserved, like valuables are, wrapped, boxed, laminated, framed... and they most definitely are very precious to the one who made them. These are not exactly antics but they surely represent the evolution of art in this school, and sciences in this soceity which again, is very important. So why not royal?" 

He finally stops and glances over at Harry who is gaping at him with wide eyes which might as well pop out of their sockets. Baffled as fuck. 

"What?" He asks, confused at Harry's reaction. 

_"Are you_ _writing_ _a book?!"_

"Why?" 

_"Nothing... but if_ _they're_ _so_ _precious_ _what are_ _they_ _doing in a basement?!"_

"It's always nice to be able to look back at the good stuff from past, so people store and preserve them... that's why I guess?" And Harry guwaffs at this and looks at Louis like if he is crazy, which sometimes he is. 

_"You sure not writing any novel_ _or_ _anything?"_

"Are you laughing at me?" He quirks a brow dramatically. 

_"_ _Ofcourse! Duh!_ _"_ He chuckles trying to annoy Louis as he rolls his eyes theatrically.

_"You do talk some shit, Tomlinson!"_ His laugh louder, Louis huffs and now Harry is full on cackling like a mad man. 

He does talk too much, he knows that, but it shouldn't be voiced this way, hurting the pride of the queen over and over again! 

He coughs, "I think we should start?" 

Around six guitar cases, which probably are not empty, were placed carefully near a wall, next to which lied three boxes with triangles, flutes and clarients. A few trumpets and a drum set too. And lastly, the piano he is here for. There were three pianos, two in their cases and the third sitting in it's full glory on the keyboard stand near all the other instruments. 

"Can you please get two chairs from there?" He asks Harry in a honeyed voice as the boy looked anything but pleased and Louis is sure that Harry internally swore at him.

But the queen won't do the picking and dropping of chairs! 

_"I mean..._ _I_ _know_ _we can take instruments from here and practise but are we allowed to_ _touch_ _anything else?!"_ He asks and by his tone, Louis is pretty sure that Harry was in fact surprised by the place they decided to settle for. 

"I don't know? But I don't plan on standing and teaching you for two hours straight!" Harry chuckles and heads for two chairs. 

They slip in their chairs as Louis starts speaking. He is nervous even if he used to teach a few kids in the past and is almost very much professional with the instrument but... it's Harry he is dealing with right now. 

"Okay so before we start with any serious sessions you need to know a few basics like how to sit." 

_"We're not sitting correctly?"_

"The sound of your piano depends a lot upon how you sit and the way you drop your fingers!" 

He could feel Harry's muscles stiffen next to him and without thinking once he stretches his hand to rest on Harry's arm, "Chill, you'll get used to it." And Harry nods stiffly. 

"Now for beginners we won't directly start with sheet music ofcourse! We'll start with notes which are from A-G. Now how will you identity them?"

Harry doesn't say a word but Louis knows he is listening and paying attention to every single word that leaves his mouth while never taking his eyes off the box in front of them. 

Pointing at the middle key, he says in a raspy voice, "This will help you identify the notes!" 

And for the first time is when Harry turns his head to look at him, perplexed. 

"It's called middle C, more like C4... it'll help you play notes easily from the right hand, which are C to G... you're getting me?" 

Harry just nods, something about his posture tells that he is actually pretty nervous around Louis. He jumps from his place and blinks with wide eyes when Louis pats his back gently and tells him he doesn't have to be so nervous around him. Harry just purses his lips and nods tightly. 

"Babe... I mean, Harry... calm down, yeah? What are you so nervous about?" He asks in a cotton voice. 

Harry shakes his head stiffly and doesn't let a single word out of his mouth. "If you don't speak, how will I know where it's going wrong? You have to talk to me... we can't go like this, just me talking for two hours straight while you just sit next to me with your muscles so tensed, what is it?" 

_"It's nothing..."_ he murmurs under his breathe and Louis shoots a glare his way, telling him to speak. 

_"I fear that..._ _I'll_ _end up disappointing you and_ _you'll_ _think of me as_ _just_ _a waste of time..."_

He takes a small pause and continues, _"I don't want to waste_ _your_ _time like this... you must_ _have_ _a lot more important things to do..."_

And oh- it's the same Harry- when they first sat at the piano together two years ago, these were pretty much the same words Harry had told him, told him that he's scared of disappointing Louis. 

But instead of being happy and hopeful, Louis feels a little pang in his chest because according to Harry, he is nothing more than just a waste of time for Louis... but again, Louis has to stay tongue tied as he simply couldn't express how much every second with him means to him. How much more time he wants to spend with him, how much he worships the time spent with this curly headed boy, he can't say any of it cause he doesn't want to scare him away like this.

After a small moment of consideration, Louis wraps his lithe, cold fingers around Harry's wrists as the curly head bends down to look at where they share a touch but doesn't retract his hand from Louis' hold, instead his staggering nerves calm down slightly under Louis' touch. 

"Take as much time as you want to learn, I'll be always here whenever you need me. Talking about disappointment, unless you're trying, I will never be disappointed. Just don't give up, yeah?" 

And Louis could practically feels all the stiff muscles in Harry's body relax. He internally showers himself with all the praises, cause, probably, he succeeded to get Harry be comfortable around him? Not completely but just a little part of him? 

Harry sighs deeply and starts smiling putting his dimples on the show, _"Yeah.."_  
He raises his eyes to meet Louis' as they crinkle at the corners, 

_"Thanks..."_ he says shyly with colours rising in his face. 

Louis chuckles softly and retracts his hold from Harry's wrist and Louis swears he saw Harry's brows twitch in a frown and smile falter just a tad but it wasn't noticeable if he weren't paying so much attention to every arch of his face. 

"Now the black keys... each of them are called flats and sharps, I won't go with technical terms for now so just remember that flats have lower pitch and sharps have higher pitch, yeah? And the white one's are called natural notes!"

And that's how he goes on with the basics. Telling him about the easiest and toughest chords to play. Making him jot down all the major and minor chords on some book he carried. Once he is done, he stops and takes a small pause, waiting for Harry to say something.

When Harry doesn't speak, Louis continues. "So do you want to learn it like professionally or to impress Taylor?"

Harry just stares in bewilderment with wide green eyes and endless blinking, "I mean... you know there are like four important chords for pop music... I can teach you those... and some easy songs you can play to impress to her?"

 _"No..._ _I_ _would like_ _it professionally... she is a bit of a professional_ _herself_ _... and if_ _I_ _play the basic or the easy notes she'll catch it immediately so..."_

Louis's eyes widen at Harry's sincerity. "Okay... cool... but I'm still going to teach you those four chords anyway... they'll be useful for you to learn any new songs on the piano."

Harry simply nods as Louis continues speaking and shows him demo of how each chord will sound and which songs they were used in.

"Do you have a piano at your house?"

 _"No... but_ _I_ _have_ _guitars_ _!"_ He says with wide eyes filled with zest and smile starts to form on his lips.

Louis chuckles lightly, "What are we trying to learn?" At this Harry's smile falter and Louis curses himself internally 'Fook you Lewis!'

_"Piano..."_

"Exactly!"

 _"So what about_ _it_ _?"_

"Yeah... so for the next two sessions, we will practice fingering!" He swears it sounded normal in his head.

Harry's head snaps in Louis' direction as he ends the sentence with "fingering" with wide eyes and befuddled face.

 _"Sorry?"_ He asks in a puzzled tone, blinkling rapidly.

Louis' hand flies to his forehead, dragging down his face as he internally gapes at the awkward situation.

"I mean... fingering, in music's language is-- STOP LAUGHING IDIOT!" He stars giggling and slaps Harry's arm lightly when he sees him trying to control his ever so obvious chuckle. But he is glad the mood has started to lighten up.

"So fingering..." he starts but couldn't complete the statement as he himself starts laughing along with Harry, his head falling back with dimples on the show. This time he receives a little knock in the head from Louis.

"Shut up you filthy animal!" He says through his giggles.

 _"You started laughing first!"_ Louis huffs at this and Harry's laugh grows louder and Louis loves it, he missed his baby's ridiculous way of laughing. That throaty sound he makes while laughing is so ridiculous but so fucking adorable and Louis can't help but just relish the moment.

When Harry finally calms down, "Ok now shut up and listen! Fingering is the practice you require so your fingers drop on the right key! Like if you're trying to play... for example the C chord, which is C E G, your fingers can accidentally drop on CFG or DEG or something like that, and if we don't want you to make such mistakes, you'll have to practice fingering!"

Harry nods and the room is filled with dead silence. Louis doesn't say a word further and neither does Harry. Just them sharing the quiet next to each other with room filled with the sounds coming from the open door of other kids calling each other out while playing.

A couple minutes of silence later both of them snort ridiculously and break into loud series of laughter filling the room up with the sounds of their blasting cackles. Their heads falling backwards, eyes shut tightly as they laugh like mad men and crinkles forming by their eyes.

Giving a slight push to Harry, "Stop it! We are serious people! We are going to learn seriously!"

Harry nods once he somehow balances himself back on the chair and parrots back gleefully with exhilarated smile, _"Serious people! Yes!"_

"Stop mocking, I'm being serious."

 _"_ _I'm_ _sorry TEACHER-"_ he says with a pout and Louis rolls his eyes.

"You mock once more and I leave the room!" He says in an irate tone but not meaning a thing.

"I promise it won't happen again TEACHER!" He says with dimples popping out and Louis raises his brows dramatically, standing up from his place, pretending to leave.

"So that's it for today! I'm leaving!" He said as he started to pick his bag. Sudden chills ran down his spine as he felt huge hands grabbing him by his arm getting him to stop from leaving.

 _"Okay okay_ _I'm_ _sorry... promise won't do it again!!"_ He says hurriedly, trying to get Louis stop and ofcourse he does. How could he turn his baby down?

They spend thirty more minutes with Louis playing some basic tunes like happy birthday or twinkle star and a couple more as Harry writes down the notes and chords required. After almost one and a half hour of lesson, Louis decides that was it for the day and they're free to leave. They place the keyboard in it's case, fold the stand and put chairs back at where they used to be.

"So we meet on Friday?" Louis asks as they head for school's gate.

_"Yeah... and thank you..."_

"No worries!" Louis shrugs.

They reach the school gate in silence, one really comfortable though, just enjoying the presence of each other.

"You looked good today..." Harry said breaking the silence. Louis is pretty stunned to be honest cause it was HARRY who decided to break the silence this time.

"Sorry?" Louis suddenly stops walking abrupty and stares at Harry, wide eyed.

 _"You looked good today... and it was_ _so_ _wrong of_ _Mr_ _. Higgins.... the way he talked to you... in front of everyone..._ " he says, voice timid as color rises high on his cheeks.

"Awwwwwwwwwwwwww my babyyyyyyyyyy!!!!!" sound chimes in Louis' head as he quite can't believe what Harry just said and looks at him with pure fond twinkling in his eyes as blood rushes to his cheeks and a stupid smile starts growing on his thin, pink lips. And those fucking butterflies are back at flapping their wings!

"Thanks... and nah... he's always like that with me..."

 _"That's still wrong,_ _being_ _prejudiced... and then treating students like that..."_ he says with a small frown growing on his face and Louis couldn't help but feel warmth settling in his belly with cheeks reddening.

"He is just like that... and thank you..." he says in a soft voice, not quite confident about the way he sounded though because is pretty sure be sounded like a teenage girl when her crush compliments her.

*********

Louis spends rest of the day fantasizing and making up stories in his head. Fantasizing about how will it be like in his next lesson with Harry. Will it be just ths same, jolly and fun or just serious and awkward where Harry is too shy to talk to Louis. 

As he stares into the abyss, the abyss stares back at him, the hollow in it's stare mocking Louis' fantasies, cause he knows that just like this empty space, those fantasies were hollow too, devoid of real colours and real people- just two characters living in his mind, heading into darkness pretending they're surrounded by colours. He just can't wait for the day Harry remembers everything about him, everything about THEM. Can't wait for when those two characters don't have to pretend to live between the colours anymore. 

The dinner being bashful, his sisters and mum simply won't stop teasing him about Harry and Liam, he just can't shut his mouth. Every now and then he receives a deadly glare from Louis telling him that he's dead tonight and that's how it's like for the rest of the night.

And he finally falls asleep, replaying the whole day in his head, especially the time he spent with Harry. He would cherish every moment like people cherish their diamonds. 

He can't wait for Friday!!

*********

Friday comes and he's again so excited to go back at that basement or store room with Harry. The whole day goes by in a daze as he drifts in his fantasy world again. Time with Harry during the lesson flew by quickly and Louis selfishly wishes for it to go on the way it is. Lesson was jovial and Harry, unnaturally when around Louis, was his bubbly self and Louis loves it. He prefers this so much over that stuffy air theh shared during their first meeting. 

They stand outside the school's gate as they speak after their piano session. _"By the_ _way_ _... where do you_ _live_ _?"_

"Why? You wanna pay my mum and six pain in the arse sisters?" Louis is definitely going to pull his leg. 

_"_ _Just_ _casually asking..."_ Harry says shrugging his shoulder. 

"I don't give my address just CASUALLY to anyone!" He says like a wise man that he is. 

_"You know_ _where_ _I_ _live_ _so_ _I_ _thought it's only fair-"_ he says with small traces of disappointment in his tone as Louis chuckles lightly and end up giving the address. 

_"Oh... so_ _you_ _and Liam live together? With_ _your_ _sisters and parents-_ _I_ _mean"_

"Yeah..." 

_"Can_ _I_ _ask_ _you_ _something more?"_

"Ofcourse!"

_"Heard you're_ _pretty_ _bright of a student, academically too... how? I_ _mean_ _how do_ _you study_ _? Cause science is coming at my throat!"_

Here comes our wise man, Lord Tomlinson is here for Harry's rescue!

"See, Harry... treat the sciences like some enemies to lovers book. Math, like an enemy that you hate but you gradually start to understand them and then have fun. Physics, this one's just friends with benefits, you have fun and get pleasure, that is easy topic and good grades. Then comes chemistry, love finally! The easiest to understand snd easiest to score! So there you go!" He says, pretty impressed by his ownself while Harry gapes at him. 

"I should write a book or something on tips about how to study! I'm impressed!"

_"You're impressed with what?"_

"Myself! You see I'm a very impressive lad!"

_"Stop flattering yourself, you look ridiculous!"_ He says rolling his eyes, fondly. 

"Just accept the truth!" He says with a smirk.

"Oh I forgot about biology!" 

_"I can do biology, it's my own body"_

"Its my own body" He mocks Harry in his thick Donny accent, "like if you deep dived into your body and surfed through the blood?" 

A chuckle slips from Harry's lips as he rolls his eyes at the shorter boy and Louis laughs along.

 _"Can you teach me physics, too?"_ Harry's voice suddenly cutting through their laughter.

Louis stops dead in pants as he stares at Harry with his wide blue eyes, "I'm not going to teach you how to have sex!"

 _"Shut up, who wants to have sex with you?"_ He says with a bitter scowl forming on his face and Louis wants to push further to get a reaction.

"Who doesn't should be the question!"

_"You're such an arse Tomlinson "_

"I'm all arse and mouth babe" and the taller lad rolls his eyes, but in a vexed manner this time

 _"Now who's the filthy animal?!"_ He squints his eyes like he's challenging Louis.

"Okaayyyy... I am..." he says with a pout and Harry chuckles.

After a bit more of banter they leave. Niall leaves on his own when they're having a lesson. On the way back to his home he thinks about where they stand right now. Is it safe to label their relationship as "friends"?! At the thought of it, Louis shakes his head hastily to get it out of his head. He is not the one who is supposed to label their relationship, it's Harry who must be doing it and as far as he knows, their relationship is nothing more than being classmates or being a teacher and student.

His phone pings from his bag, it was a text from Zayn.

😴: It's Ni's birthday tomorrow!

(Zayn's name is saved that way in Louis' contacts due to tiny Z's and for Zayn, sleep is the dearest thing to him, he treasures with his entire heart so it's so only fair!)

Louis' eyes widen with shock, he forgot about Niall's birthday! Shit! How could he?!?

L: I FUCKING FORGOT! What's the plan??!?

😴: I'm not even surprised-

**Tomorrow, it's Niall's birthday!!**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you fo reading so far!! If you like this chapter, please don't forget to leave kudos and feedback! <3


	11. Love probably

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Where Harry falls for Louis.  
> Just fluff, fluff and fluff with tiny bit of angst.

|PAST|

The smell of coffee is brewing in the comfortable morning air as slow cool breeze intrudes into the room through tall windows and brushes his feet softly which were peeking outside the thick blanket. His skin whimpers at the cool blow of air and wraps the blanket around him even more tightly, turning into a smaller ball of covers. A little smile forms on his cushion lips as the sound of birds chirping in the distance falls on his ears, his peacefully closed eyes flutter slowly as soft rays of sun fall on them.

_"Hey wake up..."_ a raspy and tender voice calls him.

"Mhmm"

_"Harry... wake up..."_ the person with such a pretty morning voice shakes him by his shoulder gently.

Harry hums in his sleep and the voice comes again, this time even more honeyed. _"_ _Haz_ _... wake up... you'll be late for school."_

This time Harry whines, a frown forms on his pale face and a chuckle sweet like some musical melody caresses his senses. And then... then it stops. He doesn't hear the voice again and wonders in his sleep what happened to it. He probably dreamt of it cause his alarm didn't go off yet, which always disturbs him from his beauty sleep but somehow he decides to wake up.

His eyes flutter half open and the first thing he sees is a pair of cool blue eyes looking at him, there was warmth and comfort in them. He rubbed his eyes mildly as he felt the person with blue eyes shift in their position and he opens his eyes fully. A dainty figure comes in view as his gaze takes a small moment to adjust to the light beaming through the window.

IT'S LOUIS! He realizes as he gets up hastily and sits straight on the bed. Eyes wide and heartbeat shallow while his breaths turn into something soft, still trying to take in the surroundings.

"He-hey!" Blinking constantly, he says.

_"Good morning!"_ He says warmly and a pleasant smile plays on his thin lips.

Staring with wide green eyes, still blinking rapidly, he replies timidly with a strange rasp in his morning voice, "Good morning!"

Louis nods, _"I brought you_ _breakfast_ _..."_ he says pointing at a glass table standing at a far end of the room.

Harry turns his neck around to glance at it, Louis brought coffee and sandwiches today. So he'll be bringing him food for all the time he stays here? He thinks to himself selfishly as butterflies twirl in his groaning stomach.

"Thanks!"

_"You're welcome..."_ he shrugs, _"_ _I_ _think you should get ready for school though..."_

"Ugh... yeaaah.." he says grumpily and stretching out his endlessly lithe limbs

_"Ok then..."_ he chuckles and leaves the room Harry hastily gets ready to go to school.

*********

"Where do you study?" 

_"Pioneer high."_ Louis says as he locks the door. 

"Niall studies there too- how do you not know him?!" 

_"I don't think he's in the same year as me..."_

"Oh-" 

They walk through the long sidewalk of cobblestones in a comfortable silence, passing the delicate looking, magnificent statues positioned gracefully in gardens around which escorted them along their path. Dried up marble fountain at the centre felt very gloomy for such vivid surrounding filled with zest. When Harry passed through this place yesterday, he was running all the way without paying any attention to the place and when he came back, it was pitch black. He notices a lush and striking flower bed at an edge of a little garden, unfurled gorgeously along the trails of fences, looking like a dispersed band of colors spiiled on the ground, with butterflies doing their little flutterinig dance upon it. 

"How is this place so well maintained?!" Breaking the silence, asks Harry with sprouting curiosity. 

_"Cleaners come here every week to clear off this lawn and clean the whole house."_

"Ohh... so whose place is this?" 

_"A family friend's..."_

"Won't they find out?!" 

_"They won't_ _comeback_ _for at least_ _next_ _three_ _years_ _..."_

"Ohh... so how are you able to use it?" 

Louis' brows rise slightly, _"What do_ _you_ _mean?!"_

"You kept me in that basement-" 

_"Oh... no..._ _I mean... no..."_ Louis who always seems to come off as someone really confident was now stuttering in front of him with such a timid and small voice and Harry understands what was it he is trying to say.

"I know... you said before..." 

_"Yeah..."_ he says and nervously scratches his neck with a shy smile on his face. 

There is silence again and this time it is maintained till the end while all Harry could think about this beautiful blue eyed boy walking next to him who opened every scar of his life in front of him yesterday, to a complete stranger, just to comfort him. His words from last night on replay and as the time ticks, he could feel anger growing into him, anger against Louis' father who steeped so low for money. 

_"See you later then?"_ Louis' voice cuts through his streaming thoughts and suddenly all the anger in him melts as his eyes meet with Louis' soft face. 

_"Why are your eyes red? You good?"_ He asks with concern in his voice and that's when he realizes that his eyes are numb by thinking about everything that Louis went through. 

"Yeah just a bit of dust I think?" He says rubbing his eyes. 

_"They'll accept you..."_ he says surprising Harry with a warm smile. 

"Yeah..." 

_"Yeah... see you_ _later_ _then?"_ He asks again, as a little confirmation of Harry coming back to that house after school and no way Harry wanted to face Roisin anytime soon. Or he is probably overthinking.

"Yeaah see ya! Have a good day!" 

Time at school was spent leisurely, with books, friends and teachers just like a normal day. Thought of Louis crosses his mind a couple of times throughout the day, thoughts about what he must be doing at the time or is he thinking about him too. 

Not like he's in a hurry or anything to get back to that house and meet Louis but today seemed to be stretching endlessly.

*********

The school ends, FUCKING FINALLY!! He takes a bus for Hazelwood drive and wonders whether Louis will already be present there when he reaches. When he gets back to the mansion he looks around for Louis and there's no sign of him, he feels oddly upset, what is he even expecting?! Harry then changes into normal clothes and flops down on the bed in his room going through Instagram feed. A little itch of knowing Louis' Instagram rises in him. 

**"** **Louis Tomlinson** **"** he types in the search bar and a shit tonne of accounts with similar names appear, someone without any profile picture, some looked like fake accounts, a lot many are private and with that, he couldn't find Louis. 

He then decides to stroll around the huge house and explore it's corners and arches and delicacy of intricately designed ceilings. The first place he goes to is the bathroom of their floor and oh my- it was huge. His house was big too but definitely not as big as this one. An artfully checkered grey rug spread out on the marble floor which shined gloriously under the influence of bright sunlight from tall windows standing at the end of colossal room. Walking past the line of glimmering mirrors on flashy white walls with fine frames of thin golden stripes adding a lush touch to the place and a marble platform holding an elegantly designed sink. 

He then walks into the balcony through windows which are decorated with ornate curtains and fake flowers. Harry gasped at the jacuzzi set in the wooden flooring giving a spa like feel to this yawning and jaw dropping place in front of him, it was dreamlike. He won't mind spending the rest of his life in this backroom, he thought to himself but eagerly shook his head at weirdly patterned thought.. back into the room, there was another wooden door which lead him into the main bathroom with tastefully designed shower, bathtub, tiles and flooring as Harry left gawking at the place.

He then peeks through other four rooms on the floor excluding his, every room different than the other. If the first one had crystal chandelier and dark interiors, then next would be with candelabrum and designed with 60s aesthetics. The third one looked like children's room and the last one was all digital, where Louis- as he said- slept last night. Harry is definitely impressed by the taste of the owner of this house, it was immaculate. 

Then going through second floor, which was mind of bigger than the first floor and a few extra bedrooms which were all indifferent from one another as he continues to stroll around. Surprises never seemed to cease. This floor consisted of a game room which he decided to enter, it held numerous indoor games like snooker, table tennis, board games like chess and othello placed on a table. Walls occupied with many arcade machines which gained all of his attnetion and he couldn't help but stand still in amazement with jaw dropping on the floor. And for the last part, it also had a fucking bowling place, Harry originally planned to leave the place in next four to five days but suddenly he doesn't want to go back anymore- this place was heaven. 

While he sauntered from one room to another and opened doors to find them empty, he felt a small pang in his chest. Louis said "see ya later, not see you after school in the noon" he reminds himself secretly. What big of an idiot he is for expecting anything, he thinks to himself. 

He saved library as the last part of his floor trip. As he opened the elaborately designed wooden door, he is greeted by tall endless bookshelves filled with both, authenticate and modern books. Smell of fresh coffee cradled his senses, maybe the wood smells that way, he thought to himself. A plush grey couch sat at an end of the room near the unlit fireplace with it's back towards him and a set of armchairs with a small teapoy sat in the middle. He immediately considered this place as divine, holy, celestial, heavenly, everything he ever wanted. 

He walks along the trails of books as his fingers brush against them and goes through their titles. He immediately finds the section with his favourite genre and he was more than pleased to find his favourite psychological thrillers like the girl with dragon tattoo, sharp objects, the silence of lambs, Rebecca and a few more. Now all he wills to do is hide in this library with a pizza, hot chocolate and all these books and never go out. 

He then picks a book named as "we have always lived in the castle" with a cartoonish black and white cover, he's heard of it before but never gave it a try. He walks towards an armchair to have a seat and dissovle himself in a whole new world set in probably late twentieth century. 

"WHAT THE FUCK?!" Leaves his mouth while he slips on the armchair as his eyes fall upon Louis who was reading some book. 

_"WHAT?!"_ he yells, half surprised, half shocked as he jumps at his place and the coffee mug in his hand drops on a very expensive looking rug, but Harry couldn't give two fucks about a broken cup or spoiled rug right now. 

"You're like a ghost?"

_"What?"_ He frowns.

"When did you come here?" Confusion rising in his head. 

_"It must be me who_ _should_ _ask you this question actually!"_

"What?" 

_"You just dropped in front of me out of nowhere!"_ His brows comically furrowed and he was just equally confused as Harry. 

"No because I've been walking around the house for past thirty minutes or more now and there was no sign of you so where did you even come from?! Popped out of the earth or did this ceiling throw up?" 

And Louis just glared at him, cutting him through his blue icy stare, as he froze at his place. Because Harry, who just popped out of nowhere in front of him, because of whom his coffee was spilled, the rug was spoiled and the mug was broken, is going to argue with him. 

"You're no Elsa you think you are!" Harry blurts as a coping mechanism and realizes a second later how stupid it sounded. Ok but you can't blame him for that, Louis, soft, caring, funny, tender, gentle (as he keeps adding fifty more adjectives) Louis was glaring at him like that. 

Louis then stops glaring at that as quizzical judgements form on his face. _"What does any of it has to do_ _with_ _Elsa?"_

"I don't know, you don't watch Disney movies?" 

_"_ _They're_ _for twelve year olds lol."_ He says rolling his eyes, slipping deeper in the couch. 

"Then let me tell you, you're a sad, strange little man and you have my pity..." he says with a pout.

**(Iykyk)**

_"What?!"_

"It's from Toy Story!" He says grinning widely at huffing Louis which screamed victory to Harry in this argument! And eventually Louis starts laughing along.

_"It's not even Disney... it's Pixar!"_ He tried arguing.

"So you like Pixar?"

_"Nah..._ _that's_ _staright up_ _for toddlers!"_

"So my point still stands!" He says giggling, very proud of his win from this debate as Louis rolls his eyes at which Harry's giggle gets louder.

"But why not Pixar?"

_"_ _I'd_ _rather_ _have dreams about my_ _prince_ _charming than be haunted by_ _talking_ _cars and dolls or some school going monsters!"_ Louis placed his point with a lot of pride and they're totally going to have a debate over this but first, Harry needs to do some research as Louis had thrown the most superior one his way! He couldn't think of ONE point against Disney! Ughh...

_"What are you thinking?"_ Louis asks, his voice cutting through his thoughts.

"A point against Disney..." he admits in a low voice, embarrassed with himself.

Louis snorts at this and now, it was his turn to laugh while Harry just sat and stared bitterly at Louis, which made him laugh even more. HE WAS ALMOST WINNING!! And just as unbelievable as it sounds, his throne of victory was snatched as some irrelevant cars or dolls decided to speak or some weird ass monsters felt like getting educated.

_"_ _Babe_ _... chill... we're not having any kind of debate here..."_ he says with small giggles bubbling from his mouth.

Aaand there, the stupid butterflies are back at dancing and flitting in his belly as Louis did that babe thing again, it seemed to be his thing though, the pet names and all, but the way he said it and sounded was just too endearing to not have red colour glistening across his face.

Harry then clears his throat in annoyance and Louis chuckles softly at this. "What are you reading?" He asks changing the topic.

_"The fault in our stars!"_ He says with a great enthusiastic smile spreading wide across his face.

"Ohh.. heard of it multiple times! It's pretty popular but I never really gave it a try..."

_"You_ _should_ _actually, it's brilliant!"_

"I will... it's just that I'm not much into romance novels... I like thriller or horror genre better..."

_"I see why you prefer Pixar over Disney_ _now_ _..."_ Louis says with a hint of tease rolling on his tongue as a small chuckle slips from his mouth.

"Laugh all you want..." Harry says rolling his eyes and huffing at Louis as he bursts into laughter.

Ughh he must be annoyed by Louis laughing at him but he's not, instead he finds his laugh too charming to be mad. The way his eyes crinkle and how he covers his mouth with his sweater paws while laughing, everything about him is just so soft and Harry can't help but laugh along with Louis.

"That's enough for now!" Harry finally stops laughing.

_"Yeaah.. enough for now! What are you reading by_ _the way_ _?"_

"We always lived in the castle..."

_"_ _What's_ _the plot?"_ He says raising his brows slightly.

"Umm.. I don't really know... I just picked it..."

_"_ _That's_ _fine_ _... but_ _I'm_ _telling you... try a few romance novels..._ _you'll_ _love them!"_

"I read one or two... uhh sometime ago? And while I read it I just realised that how high I'm raising my standards in love... and with all honesty I don't wanna die single and want to find a nice love for myself..."

_"You_ _want_ _to fall in love? That's sweet..."_ he says in a low, raspy voice which was entwined with some feelings of his own.

"Yeah..." is all he replies with a tint of pink brightening on his cheeks, clutching the book in his lap lightly.

"But... we can do this..."

_"About_ _what_ _?!"_

"Umm... read me your favourite romance novels and I'll read you my favourite thrillers?" He says timidly in a low voice, a little embarrassed with himself.

Louis raises his brows high with a small hint of smile on his lips, _"I think we can do this!"_

"Yeah?" His eyes widen with relief and his his mouth parts into a wide grin.

_"Yeah!"_ Louis nods, smiling fondly at the curly headed boy.

Louis shifts in his place and takes one corner of the couch while clearing some space for Harry, the spilled coffee and broken mug long forgotten.

He pats the seat next to him, a small stream of dust flies out of the soft material, _"C'mere..."_ He sings

And Harry swears under his breathe that his heart missed a couple of beats. There's something about Louis that makes him so much more adorable, his aura, his charm, his gentleness, the rasp in his voice, just everything about him is so different, so soft... how can anyone ever think of hurting him like this??

Before he could float away any further in his thoughts, Louis' voice cuts through them, concern reflecting in his words.

_"Hey... I'm_ _sorry_ _... did I.. uh.. make_ _you_ _uncomfortable? With the way_ _I_ _talked? Like be where you're comfortable..._ _I_ _mean..._ _I_ _just said so you won't have to struggle to hear... I umm..."_

Harry realizes he took too long to respond and that's probably why Louis is acting the way he is. He jumps from his place and positions himself next to Louis, without placing his foot on the floor and flashes a shy smile towards him.

_"You're comfortable like this?"_

"Yeah ofcourse!" Louis nods at this and Harry adds with puppy eyes, "Can you read from the beginning, please?"

Louis chuckles fondly, _"Ofcourse Darling.."_ and Harry shys away at "darling" and if he was secretly pleased with it no one has to know.

_"Late in the winter of my seventeenth year, my mother decided I was depressed...."_ Louis starts reading but is abruptly interrupted by curious Harry.

"What was the plot again?"

_"It's about how Hazel and Augustus are two cancer afflicted teenagers who meet each_ _other_ _at some cancer support group and fall in love_...."

"Oh... ok... I'm sorry for interrupting.."

_"It's okay.."_

Louis starts reading again as Harry shifts in his place to rest his back against an armrest at the opposite end of the couch, facing Louis. While he read, Harry just watched how Louis' thin arched lips curled to form words, how caramel lashes brushed against his sandy skin which formed scanty shadows like dancing butterflies whenever he blinked, feather like hair covering his forehead like fine threads of silk, his nose looked so dainty and brilliant and his cheekbones glorious. Oh God, how fucking beautiful he is and Harry finds himself being fascinated by Louis once again. No way anyone could ever be so beautiful... how is he even real?!

His voice had comfort in it, the gentle rasp giving out warmth like hot chocolate near a fireplace as snow blanketed the roads, and airiness felt like beaches during evenings- calm and soothing. He could listen to this voice for the rest of his life.... rest of his life?? He suddenly shakes his head at the thought of "rest of his life" because it was the most terrifying thought ever- they just met yesterday! The fuck is he thinking?!?

And just like that he snaps out of his dreamland and tries with every muscle in his body to focus on what this angelic looking boy was reading. He realizes that Louis was reading about some Isaac dude who just broke up with his girlfriend and he is frustrated about it and breaking things in Augustus' house. Wow- Augustus was too humble, wasn't he? He thinks to himself as the story continues.

When the story is done and Louis closes the book is when Harry realizes that tears stung his eyes caused by the tragic ending of love between Augustus and Hazel. He found himself being so engrossed with the way words left Louis' mouth, at one point he thought that he was interrupting something between the book and Louis, cause those weren't just words that were bring pronounced, his sorrow and joy too were bring pronounced with them.... which also was the reason why Harry found himself being so engrossed with the book.

"No one deserves an ending so tragic.." He finally speaks in a very low voice, as if he were trying not to disturb the tranquility enveloping them.

_"But everyone has a tragic_ _ending_ _..."_ he says in a slightly sore voice. It was dark outside and the only source of light that they currently sat under was a lamp next to their couch which made Louis' skin shimmer golden under it's influence.

"What?"

_"No_ _one_ _lives_ _forever_ _... and_ _I_ _think_ _that's_ _the thing about fatal endings... it feels more real than any_ _other_ _books..._ _I_ _think_ _sometimes_ _realness and delicacy gets more important than entertainment in a book?"_

Harry squints in confusion, trying to scan the boy's face in search of clues for what he was trying to say but none were found.

"But tragic endings are rather satisfactory in thriller books than romance novels..."

_"What you mean?"_

"Their endings are usually like you know the culprit gets caught but it's usually someone you trusted the most or someone important dies or someone ends up being miserable... but when it comes to romance books it's more like.... I'm left in tears..."

_"In thrillers you're_ _attached_ _to the_ _story_ _more than_ _you're_ _attached with the character... while it's just the opposite when_ _it_ _comes_ _to romance_ _books? Simple!"_ He shrugs with a smile and Harry gapes at him in surprise.

How does he know everything?!? It's like he had an answer for every question. He thinks to himself but instead says, "You're no Socrates you think you are..."

"Fucking idiot Styles! That doesn't even make sense! Why don't you think before opening your mouth!" He curses at himself in his head and shakes his head in disappointment internally, preparing himself for all the sass that'll be thrown his way now.

_"You do realize that it made zero sense right? Just so you know, I DO NOT have anything to do with Greece!"_ He stops talking and little laughs start bubbling from his mouth.

_"Oh_ _God_ _Harry- SOCRATES! What goes on in that head of yours?! How did you go from being a total serious lad to talking nonsense again!?"_ He says as his laugh grows louder in the quiet room and Harry searches for a place to hide his red face.

Like okay?!? Give him a break! He might be a little or maybe a bit more than just a little idiotic but that doesn't give Louis a free pass to laugh at him like this! He huffs at blue eyed boy who is apparently going crazy from laughing hysterically.

"Stop laughing now..." he says in a small voice like a little lost kitten and that's when Louis' loud laugh dissolve into small giggles, giggles into unheard chuckles and he finally raises his gaze to meet Harry's.

With his face glowing golden due to side lamps his eyes were shining with flakes of gold blazing in them, which aglow the deepest and the warmest shades of blues, touched with coolness of oceans. He can creep into them, jump and drown himself into those eyes, stay there and hide from the world for as long as he wishes.

_"What happened?"_ A concerned sandy voice cuts through his thoughts is when he realizes he was staring a tad longer than necessary.

"Nothing..." he shakes his head and to save the situation, his stomach grumbles. "Umm.. just a little hungry..."

_"Oh..._ _I'm_ _sorry_ _... it's 8 already... shall we order in?"_

"Sounds good..."

_"What do_ _you_ _want then?"_

"Anything would do..."

_"Chinese? You_ _like_ _it?"_

A cheeky smile spread across his face, "Love it!"

They turn the lights for library on, finally picking up the pieces of broken cup which may or may not have pricked Louis' thumb. Harry was being too conscious about not making any skin contact with Louis while they picked those pieces and hence he chose to ignore.

"Do you think we can watch some movie until dinner?" He asks as they dispose the tiny pieces.

_"Did you revise for today?"_ Louis says with a quirked brow and Harry groans at this.

"C'mon... stop being like Niall..." he sighs deeply and Louis chuckles.

_"I won't take the responsibility if you fail!"_

"Ugh okay I'll study... we can watch some movie after right?"

_"Did you complete you homework?"_

"Stop it-" he warns with a glare which makes him look intimidating according to him.

_"Nah... complete all your school work and then_ _we_ _can watch some movie!"_

Harry rolls his eyes and leaves the room throwing one last InTimIdAtInG look at Louis' way which earns him nothing but endless giggles in return. Ugh fookin Lewis!!

He ended up completing his math homework which was due next week surprising his ownself. He then revised notes when a knock occurred on his door, _"The dinner's here... do you want_ _to come_ _down or eat in your room?"_

Obviously it was Louis, who else was he expecting. But anyways, the thought of food gave him all the energy in world as he opened the door in lightening speed with a toothy grin plastered on his face.

Louis laughs warmly, _"What even are you?"_ It was more of a rhetorical question.

They ate their dinner in comfortable silence on a breakfast table cause the dining table of the dining room seemed too big for two people.

"Falling in love must be scary..." Harry said in his deep voice as he helped Louis with dishes like a good boy that he is.

_"Why do_ _you_ _say so?"_ He asks, tilting his head in Harry's direction, scrubbing the dish.

"They all have such bad endings- like the greatest love of all time... Romeo and Juliet did too... then the book you read me today..."

_"Romeo and Juliet? Greatest love_ _of_ _all time, you say? More like a_ _three_ _day relationship between a thirteen and_ _seventeen_ _year old which resulted in six deaths!"_

"What?" He snorts.

_"Read_ _that_ _in some library..."_ he shrugs.

"But that's disrespectful towards Shakespeare..."

_"It's not baby... no one's disrespecting him... it's just_ _what_ _the whole story is... it's people who exaggerated it into the greatest love of all time..."_

Harry gapes at him in astonishment, "Are you learning to be... a philosopher?"

_"Why is it that anything that you compare with me never makes sense?!?"_ He says with a suppressed chuckle.

"Just speechless and trying to add something to the conversation?" He admits.

_"Fair enough!"_ He nods as he laughs at Harry being stupid once again and he wants to burrow a hole into this ground beneath him and creep into it and hide from Louis until he forgets all of this. Harry, as far as he knows, is quite well witted but WHY does he act so stupidly in front of Louis?!? It's beyond embarrassing.... aahhh!!

They continue with their bickering over topics which never really made sense or were relevant, just enough to beat down the overrated silence as they worked.

"But it's Friday- I have the whole weekend to complete my work..."

_"Who wants to work on a weekend Harry?! Complete it_ _today_ _and have fun tomorrow?"_

Then Harry finally gets back to studies when Louis glared at him for not doing so and wanting to have fun. And that's pretty much how their day ends as thoughts of Roisin start to slip away from his mind.

The next day, even if it was Harry's turn to read the book but he doesn't and lets Louis do it... cause his voice is just something he wants to hear for as long as he can and memorize every change in his pitch while pronouncing certain words. The day passed by lazily munching on chips and pizzas in front of the TV while they watched their favourite movies. Sunday passes by in a blur too, playing arcade games in the game room, books and coffee, practicing some footie in the lawn or Louis practices and Harry cheers for him and he swears that Louis' cheeks really turned red when he started cheering at the beginning. Then comes back the Monday, where Harry has to get out of their little bubble of books and games and go back to school... follow the same old routine for a week, ugh who even invented school??

Mondays being hectic, he doesn't get the pleasure to hear Louis' beautiful voice reading him a story, or spend any time with him in the library or at dinner as he had to sit in his room, completing his work for the day as he ate. He won't admit it but he missed Louis, the way he flashes his gentle smile, the way he laughs covering his mouth, the way he uses all those pet names upon him... he missed it all.

Clock strikes one after midnight is when he finally gets up from his seat and leaves the desk messed up with all scattered stationary and folded pages. He walks out of his room, heading straight to Louis' without a second thought. He knocks on the door once, twice, thrice... but a response given was none so he decides to just unlock the door and enter.

On entering he is met with dimly lit purple LEDs throughout the room, freezing temperature and a peacefully sleeping Louis wrapped in blankets like a burrito. Harry feels guilty for invading this way but he can't help but walk in the room, closing the door behind him.

Without giving the room another glance he walks around Louis' side of bed and kneels in front of him. Resting his chin upon his crossed arms on soft white mattress, he looks at Louis wamrly as an oblivious and small smile forms on his face. The peacefully sleeping Louis, wrapped up in thick blankets looked smaller than ever, so fragile, so soft and Harry couldn't help but feel mesmerized... mesmerized by the way his lashes melt into his delicate powder skin, the way he hold onto the blanket with his lithe fingers, his soft messy fringe falling on his eyes.... and Harry has to admit... he is quite (very much) attracted to Louis. He feels some of the muscles in his own body twitch at a sight of someone so beautiful in front of him.

As he continues to observe he suddenly remembers how creepy it is, he personally doesn't like it when someone's staring at him while he's asleep because it's straight up creepy. He quickly gets up from his place and starts to leave the room. He turns the door knob to open the door slowly but the sound of the lock clicking seemed too loud for such a quiet place.

When he hears Louis shifting from his position, he stops dead in tracks; when the sound stops is when he turns around to look whether Louis woke up and... oops... he was blinking at Harry lazily, who felt like a caught kitten stealing food from the kitchen.

_"Hey?"_ Louis calls in a deep sleepy voice, starting to sit up.

"Hey.." he says in a tight voice and a forced smile.

_"Needed something?"_

"No... just.. umm.. thought of.. uh.. wishing you a.. uhh... goodnight... as I completed all my work... but I'm so sorry for waking you up like this..."

_"Nah... it's okay..."_ he shrugs. How in the world is he so calm after being woken up from such beauty sleep?!? Harry on the other hand would've thrown a tantrum if anyone would ever wake him up like this. Louis Tomlinson is definitely not a real human!

"Yeah so goodnight..." Harry says awkwardly, flashing a small pursed lipped smile at Louis.

_"Good... go nayh..."_ he yawns. Harry nods as if he's waiting for something more but when he gets nothing he starts to leave again. Disappointed but not surprised... what is he even expecting? He doesn't know the answer. But not all that disappointed though, he got to see sleeping Louis and he immediately decided it to be the most adorable thing ever.

_"Hey... wait.."_ Louis calls behind him, voice cutting through his thoughts and he turns around in lightening speed.

"Wha- what?" Eyes wide and face baffled.

_"_ _I'm_ _proper awake right_ _now_ _... so let's treat_ _you_ _with some ice cream as_ _you_ _completed your school work on time?"_

Harry stares, blinks in disbelief. "Where?"

_"What where?"_

"We have ice cream?"

_"Yep... in the fridge... I got a sweet tooth... soo..."_ he says as he flashes a timid smile with his teeth on display.

And without another warning Harry flies himself out of the room, glides across the staircase which suddenly started to seem endless as he hears Louis trying to match his pace from behind, stumbing on his steps while laughters never ceased.

_"Why ar- are you"_ laughs _"Why are you running?"_ He yells out in an airy, gleeful voice.

"Gotta get the whole box!" He screams in a throaty voice and increases his speed so Louis couldn't reach him and the box earlier than he could.

_"Don't you dare Styles!"_ And now suddenly Louis seemed closer than he was a few moments ago, at this rate, Louis will definitely get a hold of Harry so he breaks into even faster run to get away.

The whole house now seems to be echoing back their happy laughs and croacky yet joyous screams as they put on an ice cream race. Louis happily chasing Harry and Harry running across the house like a child, everything seemed perfect in their small bubble of just them and ice creams.

Harry runs, runs and runs all his way to the kitchen as he feels the steps following him fade behind him... Louis was no longer following him, which was equally relieving and stressful... but for now he has to get the ice cream and plan his escape without getting in Louis' way.

The room was dark and he doesn't know where the switches are, he somehow makes his way through the room- near the fridge and now the only source of light is the fridge light that washes this room white. And THERE he found a plastic box of what seemed choco chip ice cream in the freezer. And for Louis, he still wasn't there... what if he fell while running? And is probably not able to walk anymore? A sense of guilt suddenly rushes over him... what if something must've happened?!

And suddenly, the room was inundated with lights. When he looks up he finds Louis standing at the door and relief comes over, so nothing happened and it was just Louis trying to be sly. Just the thought of the situation he is under, he realises that the ice cream could be snatched from him at any moment now and his eyes go wide, almost falling on the floor.

"DANG IT!" He hisses and turns around on his heels and towards the back door. He is totally going to risk it for this ice cream. He never stepped out of the house at this ungodly hour of the day and he's still not sure whether the house is really subjugated and jinxed by any sorts of witches or covens... but anything for his favourite ice cream!!

Out of the kitchen, running into endless dark lawns and gardens of variety of exquisite and floral fragrances, cool air hitting his pale skin gently, roaring in his ears wildly, wet grass tickling his bare feet as he as runs across the endless open space in front of him, being chased by Louis.

Carefree and blissful laughs along with high pitched screams filling up the dark, quiet voids laying in front of them in form of stars blinking in infinity, silent pitch black skies, eerie breeze that cradled their exhilarated bodies and the fine spaces between the soil beneath them.

After a little while, Harry's breathe starts getting heavy and his legs wobbly, his body is definitely not made for running and never had he ever ran like this before. He feels Louis getting closer and closer as his pace slows down with every stride he takes and just somehow, suddenly the next thing he knew was Louis holding his body, hands wrapping around his stooping shoulders, keeping him from running any further.

_"Got ya!"_ Joy sprinkling from his airy words as he holds onto Harry's body tightly. And with the last bit of energy Harry's body collapses against the ground with a small thud and Louis falls along, his chest against Harry's back.

"Aaaahhh!!" Harry groans on being caught and shakes Louis off his body. Louis falls on the grass, laughs bubbling from his belly and there were tears twinkling at the end of his crinkled eyes and Harry just stopped everything he was doing to just look at Louis.

_"Har-"_ laughs _"Harry! What-"_ laughs _"what even are you?!"_

_"Why were you running like that??"_ He talks with loud cackles vibrating through the ground beanth them.

They both lay next to each other on their backs, crushing the grass under them as they laughed like mad men... Harry didn't have such good laugh in a long time... he missed being carefree and yelling into the abyss. He missed being happy.

And just like that, their loud cackles dissolved into airy chuckles as their eyes met. And then... then everything fell quiet. Then it was just the shuffling of wind through tall trees and their low muffled breathes echoing into their ears.

Louis' face shining brighter than the moon with all the exhilaration, his lips curled into the prettiest smile he's ever seen, his chest heaved up and down as he tried suppressing his almost vanished laughs. The electrifying blues in his eyes reflecting the moonlight sent shivers down his spine, and a small strand of hair fell upon his eyes, interrupting all the delicacy between them and a small frown forms on Harry's face.

And before he knew what he was doing, his hand flew straight into Louis' hair, adjusting his fringe, removing the hair falling on his eyes and Louis let him as he closed his eyes. Once Harry is satisfied with what he was doing, he withdraws his hand back and keeps it to himself and Louis' eyes flutter as he opens them ever so slowly.

He truly isn't real, he is just so angelic and beautiful.

"So you still want your ice cream?" Harry finally speaks, breaking the silence, lifting the box in the air with his dimples on display.

_"Ofcourse I do!"_

"What if it's melted by now?"

_"Hmm... I don't think so? Even if it it... we'll drink it!"_ He shurgs and says with a small smile.

"Let's see..." and they both sit up to finally eat their ice cream and reward themselves. Harry is being rewarded for completing his work and Louis is being rewarded as he caught Harry on time.

The container had four plastic spoons stuck on the inside, and for the ice cream... it was neither completely melted nor completely hard. It became somewhat soft and they ate their parts without fighting any further, sitting in the middle of an open garden in a pitch black night, under a sky full of stars, enveloped by ruffling winds in woods... and to Harry everything just seemed perfect.

Everything was perfect in the little bubble with just Harry, Louis and the moon in it.  
That night they went back to sleep in their rooms with a big smile of their faces.

********

Rest of the week is passed in a blur, being burried into books and assignments and shit tonne of homeworks, they stopped ordering in and they cooked their food together now, which gave Harry an excuse to be around Louis... Harry could bake and Louis knew how to make soups and pasta which worked amazingly for them. They even had some flour fights once when Harry was making cookies in the evening. They definitely grew a lot closer in the span of a week than they expected.

Then came Friday when Harry is usually the happiest seemed kind of gloomy as he couldn't find Louis on returning back to the house. He waited in their library till seven in the evening and there was still no clue of him... and just as stupid as he thinks he is, he didn't even have Louis' number! How is he going to contact the boy now? What if he's not coming back tonight? Or for two or three more nights? What if something bad must've happened? Did anything urget come up?! Is he doing alright?! A lot of questions start hammering in his head.

Evening fades into night and Harry eats sandwiches for dinner.... as the clock struck twelve and Harry couldn't fall asleep... uneasiness troubled him, the feeling of being alone in such a big house troubled him, the feeling of Louis trying to get rid of him troubled him even more.

Three o'clock and he's still wide awake, waiting for Louis to return. Then sun's rays crack through the dark sky at five o'clock and it gets impossible for Harry to lay in that bed anymore so he gets out of it and decides to stand in the balcony, he watched the nature play with colours as darkness melted into the horizon which glowed with tints of pink and orange, hues of purple danced over the clouds as moon bowed a goodbye while sinking somewhere far into skies... and Harry wanted to, too... sink somewhere into the infinity cause by now, after thinking too much about it, he drew up a conclusion that Louis is now bored of him after a week and wants to get rid of him.

Torturing thoughts caused tears pricking his eyes as cool wind tries to soothe his shattered feelings. The birds woke up and danced happily in each other's company, flying from one tree to another which reminds Harry of how they ran chasing each other across the house, from one room to another... And a sudden realization of him falling for the blue eyed boy didn't help him but rather made him want to sink in with the moon even more.

Saturday mornings were his favourite mornings for some reason but today, he seemed to hate them the most. Time keeps passing by, morning turns into noon, noon drifts into evening, the moon takes over and Harry is still waiting for Louis to comeback. Harry grows more and more anxious as every second passes by and there is still no sign of Louis.

Thoughts of family being the reason of Louis' absence makes him envious and angry for he knows he is being selfish... but he could have?? At least?? Informed?? He just left... just like that... like if when you're abandoning someone or something. Forlorn took over all his emotions as feeling of abandonment ached in his chest.

Memories of people trying to get rid of him came back to life and burning tears started to pool behind his eyes. The night when Roisin said that he is an useless load of trash, that she was happier when he was gone... he feels it now, even worse than he did before, he feels every bit of it now and can't believe the amount of truth her words held.

"Am I so ugly that everyone wants to get rid of me? So dirty that you're all so desperate to get rid of me?" He whispers in shaky voice, questioning the voids as tears streamed down his cheeks, burning his pale skin, his heartbeats become shallow as his breathe hitched. He welled up with tears more and more as his chest heaved from breathlessness, his body numb and shaky as his clenched throat grew tighter and tighter.

With tears falling and a blurry vision he flew himself to his room, packed his bag and left the house. He ran across the streets in no particular directions, just to pour his frustration out on his already shaky legs which gave up after ten minutes of running, causing him to collapse on the ground.

On his knees he cried, feeling sorry for himself. His chest was at a verge of exploding and head throbbed like crazy as his dried up throat started to burn with the lack of water. His limbs felt numb and he felt weak.

Staying in the same position for next few minutes he decides to spend the night at James' house. James was not like his best friend or anything but apparently just one of his close friends who took him to parties. When he finally felt his nerves calming down, he called James, who was going to a party as he expected but anyways let Harry in for the night.

Well he turned out to be a nice lad though, helped Harry quite a lot when he reached. He even tried convincing Harry to attend the party with him but he felt so weak that all he wanted to do right now was bury his head in a pillow. In the morning he was offered full English breakfast and for Harry, food always helped. And all the sorrows from last night left his body.

_"What happened?"_ James asks as they eat.

"About what?"

_"Why were you looking for a place to sleep last night?"_

"Uh... actually... yeah... my parents left for LA last week.. and I didn't feel like being all alone yesterday...

_"Ohh... don't worry, you can stay here as long as you like! But why were your eyes puffy when you came here? Like if you cried a lot?"_

"I don't know... maybe just a bit tired... and thanks! That's really kind of you..."

_"Ofcourse Harry! Wanna party tonight?"_

"It's Sunday!" He chuckles, surprising his own ability of pulling the ends of his lips upwards.

_"Let's skip tomorrow.."_ he shurgs and Harry rolls his eyes. And that's when he is reminded of shit tonne of homework he had to complete.

"Fuck!"

_"What?"_

"I have so much work to be done by tomorrow! Henry and Naya would kill me if I don't submit my assignments tomorrow!!"

_"Wow- so there are kids who actually enjoy school... and you are one of them is actually quite shocking mate..."_

Harry squints at the last words, "What do you mean?"

James snorts, _"Nothing... just eat and then complete your work..."_

After some more banter and bickering over studies, school, books, food and music Harry bids him a goodbye. He'll never be grateful enough for this guy and will be there for him whenever he wanted.

He now doesn't know where to go, after last night, he doesn't want to face Roisin again, anytime soon so he just decides to leave for Van Doren House again and give it a last try with all the new hopes blooming into him... also what if Louis is back?!

Only when he reaches the house is when he finds out that Louis is not present there and he feels a small pang in his chest. But he starts completing his assignments and decides that he'll return home if Louis doesn't come back tonight. As the day passes by his hope for Louis to come back starts to fade away. He doesn't eat his lunch and tries to give all of his attention to textbooks in front of him and surprisingly he succeeds.

Eight in the evening is when he is done with all his school work and he decides to get something from the kitchen. By this time, all the hopes of Louis coming back are vanished. So he ends up making mac n cheese for himself, eats peacefully at the kitchen table as he tells himself that all of it was temporary anyway. It was for until Harry feels better about himself, ofcourse it was temporary. A vague feeling of melancholy washes over him and tears start to pool behind his eyes again, he may or may not cry this time but would definitely leave. It's for everyone's good.

He then washes his dishes as a few muffled sobs slip from his mouth... he is really going to miss Louis so much, even if they only spent a week together, he grew so attached to him as if they knew each other for years. Seeing Louis' face after school at the library immediately became a part of his routine. Their flour flights, ice cream race, their irrelevant bickerings, them cheering for each other as they played, their story reading time at the library, their stupid banters which took turns from discussing about authors to ending up on shower gels, he's going to miss all that so much. And as far as his experience tells, crushes are meant to break your heart at the end.

He then walks to his room and gathers everything that belonged him to and stuffs them into his bag. It was almost half past nine so he has to get a cab and thankfully he had the money. Shutting the door behind him he takes his time to climb down the staircase.

He decides to pay his favorite place, the library, a last visit. He spends good twenty minutes at the place which was practically built with pages and wood. He picks four books from one of the shelves for himself to read later. As he walks around the room, his gaze falls on the couch... where their tradition of reading started... and just the memory of their first book makes tears pool behind his eyes.

_"Harry?"_ His ears start ringing as he hears someone calling out his name at a distance and he ignores the voice walking further into the room.

_"Harry??"_ The voice calling out his name comes again, then again... and once again which was the last straw for Harry as he practically flies himself out of the room.

_"Harry?? Where you at?!?"_ Someone calls from a distance and the voice seemed too familiar to not have hopes sparking in every bit of his body.

"WHERE ARE YOU?!?" He yells in a gleeful voice.

_"In front of your room!"_ And with that Harry breaks into a run and sprints over the endless looking staircase, stumbling over his feet and falling a couple of times, weight of the backpack on his shoulders didn't help him much as he ran to the lower floor, rather it made him fall over even more. Tears start to pour down his cheeks at the thought of Louis being back as his vision got blurry. No one knows how, but Louis immediately became his comfort person and now a crush too.

On the reaching lower floor, there he sees a dainty figure standing outside his room. IT'S LOUIS!

"LOUIS!!" He yells with uncontrollable mirth cascading from his eyes in form of tears. His chest heaved up and down from all the falling and running as his eyes started glinting.

_"Harry! Oh my_ _God_ _Haz_ _! Oh my!"_

With that Harry runs across the corridor, making the gap between them disappear, with an impossibly big smile on his face he hopped upon Louis wrapping his legs around his slim waist and Louis threw his arms around Harry's waist, holding him tight, securely, so he doesn't fall. He rested his wet cheeks on Louis' feather like hair as the tears never stopped. And Louis... he buried his face in Harry's chest with an equally wide smile.

_"Harry... babe.. I'm so sor-"_

"I got so scared!" He sniffs into Louis' hair.

_"I'm- I'm so SO sorry_ _Haz_ _! An emergency came up and_ _I_ _immediately had to leave the town... they didn't even let me visit here! I'm sorry... promise it won't happen again!"_

"Thought that you just wanted to get rid me..." his shaky voice just above a whisper and he feels Louis' muscles tighten a little.

He looks up at Harry through his lashes as Harry continued to look down, where their bodies intertwined with each other as a pink colour started to show on his wet cheeks.

_"Harry? Look at me..."_ there was a hint of dismay in his voice and Harry then raised his gaze to meet with Louis'. Hurt was clear in his glassy blue eyes.

_"What made you think that I wanted to get rid of you?"_

"Nothing just that... umm.. I'm too demanding and make a mess out of everything..."

_"And?"_ How does he know there was more to it?!?

"And being all alone on Friday made me think of everything that Roisin said....and how I lost my friends because I'm too boring and annoying... and stupid.."

Louis sighs deeply, _"The people who lost you, let you go are the_ _people_ _who are stupid! And..._ _dontcha_ _EVER think that_ _I_ _would ever want to get rid of you like that.... take your time, I'm here as_ _long_ _as you_ _want_ _me to... and I'm so sorry once again...."_ and Harry wants to kiss Louis now, kiss him so much, just so much. But instead he tightens his hold around Louis' body and pulls his head into his chest, placing a firm kiss in his soft, wooly hair.

"I missed you..." he whispers and he feels Louis smiling bashfully in his chest. He raises his head to look at Harry and Harry was just so delighted to see Louis blush like that... because of him... and making Louis blush is now probably going to the number one thing on his "to do list".

_"I missed you too..."_ he says as his eyes sparkled like stars, placing a gentle kiss on Harry's chin and shies away, hiding his face back in Harry's chest. _"Missed you so much baby koala!"_ And Harry swears that the way his heart skipped so many beats at once, it might as well just stop beating when he'll ever be allowed to kiss Louis and feel his gentle lips on his.

He then gets off of Louis, "But you deserve to be punished for it!" He says, now standing on his slightly wobbly feet.

_"What punishment?"_ He asks with amusement.

"Hmm... read me a story while I sleep!" He says with a cheeky grin and dimples on the show.

Louis squints his eyes at this, _"What are you? Five?"_ And Harry glares at him, which apparently worked. Cause first Louis had to leave him like this at a place of this kind all alone without even informing and now had to ask questions?!

_"Ok stop glaring like that... I will.."_ he chuckles. _"Oh but..._ _before_ _that... let's exchange our numbers?"_

"Yeaaaah!!" They exchange their numbers, Louis heads to the bathroom and Harry to his room. Scrolling through his Instagram feed as he impatiently waits for Louis. And if he's feeling like a bride on her first night of wedding, then it shall be treated like a national secret, NO ONE has to know!

Exactly twenty minutes later, a knock comes on his door, "Yeaah come in!!" He says trying to tone the zest in his voice down as he makes places for Louis. At a sight of Louis, a toothy grin spreads across his face and Louis laughs fondly at him. There's a book in his hand.

"What are you going to read me then?" He asks with brows shot in hair.

_"Red, white and royal blue!"_ He kneels on the mattress and sits next to Harry.

"And what is it about?"

_"Gays!"_ And Harry chuckles at the brightness in his voice.

_"_ _Oi_ _! What are you_ _laughing_ _at?"_ Narrowing his eyes, he glares at Harry.

"The way you're so excited about this one.." he says with a smile still on his face.

As Louis continues to glare, Harry slaps him lightly by his arm, "Ok ok... I won't laugh! What's the plot?!"

Louis clears his throat at this, _"Yeah! So the plot here is that president's son Alex_ _and_ _prince_ _of Wales, Henry fall in_ _love_ _with each_ _other_ _after_ _being childhood enemies for a long time!"_

"Ooo we love one good enemies to lover!"

_"_ _Yess_ _!! Especially if it consists of gay_ _romance_ _! Like who wants to read_ _hets_ _infidel romance when we can read about_ _gays entangled with_ _colors_ _and celebrate colors along with them!?"_

Harry chokes on his breathe as a loud chortle leaves his mouth, "BITE THE HETS!" And Louis barks a laugh along and soon they're laughing like mad men as they keep adding things to their gayest conversation.

_"Alright enough... now let's_ _start_ _!"_

"Mhmm.."

Louis starts reading and Harry sits back comfortably, leaning agaisnt the headboard with his head tilted towards Louis.

_"Rule number 1: DON'T GET CAUGHT!...."_ Harry bounces in place as Louis reads it.

"Wait... I'm sorry.. it just reminded me.. are we hiding me here?! And are not supposed to get caught? Cause like- I've never left this house ever since I ran away from mine... like it's only for school is when I leave here..."

Louis looks at Harry with a small frown on his face, but nothing like he was annoyed or offended or anything. _"I don't think so? I mean_ _I_ _don't think we're_ _hiding_ _you here... cause_ _I_ _right now... I don't really think I've abducted you or anything? You're here_ _because_ _you want to... no??"_

"Yeaah... I'm here because I want to... so I can come here and leave whenever I want? Do you leave the house though? Like ever?"

_"Yeah I_ _you_ _can Harry... and_ _I_ _go out everyday for grocery shopping..."_

"Aah! You do the grocery shopping... wait- then you go alone... HOW DOES ONE GO ALONE TO SHOP GROCERIES?!? Are you okay??"

Louis snorts at this, _"Ofcourse I'm_ _okay_ _..."_

"I hate going for grocery shopping alone, like absolutely loathe it, despise it with every inch of me!"

And he earns a loud cackle from Louis' side, crinkles deep by his eyes as he tries to speak through his laughter, _"You're a_ _baby_ _young_ _Harold!"_ And his laughs grows louder.

Harry glares at him like a furious kitten which doesn't help but makes Louis laugh even more loudly. _"You do realize that you don't look anything more_ _than_ _an angry kitten right?"_

And that gained Louis a hard hit on his head by a pillow. Louis narrows his eyes at Harry with his brows forming a dangerous arch and jaw tightly clenched. _"How very dare you?"_

And he gets his own pillow to hit Harry on the ribs, then Harry hits him on his back and gets thrashed by Louis' on head... and that's how they break into an intense pillow fight with the book long forgotten.

Jumping and hopping on the bed like children as they striked each other and smacked their faces with pillows again and again. Louis' squeaks encouraged Harry to hit harder and whiny Harry made Louis laugh even more which got Harry only more mad at him. And soon the pillows at a verge of getting torn. Loud laughters and whines filling up the room as they started jumping on each other once all the cotton and feathers and from the pillows started to scatter all over the room. They were at a point now where Louis was tickling Harry to death as Harry kicked Louis harshly in protest, Louis held both his feet by ankles and tickled even harder.

"AARGGHH HAHAHA AHAH STOP- HAHA STOP IT LOUIS!! HAHAH STOPPP!" He starts yelling the most incoherent words ever with not so happy laughs, trying to threaten Louis which just gained even more laughs from Louis' side.

"I- I AHAHAH LOUEEHHH! I'LL TORTURE YOUR NOSTRILS WHILE YOU AARGH WHILE YOU SLEEP! AND ARRGGGH AND- AND I'LL GOD LOUIS STOP!!"

_"You will WHAT?! Torture_ _my_ _nostrils?!"_ He snorts loudly, _"and you get angry_ _when_ _I say_ _you're_ _a baby!"_ He laughs and loses the hold on Harry and to his advantage he quickly tackles Louis and makes him fall on the bed. His giant hands are enough to hold both of Louis' wrist in one he starts tickling Louis wickedly... and to his surprise... he does get tickled. And Louis squirms sharply under his hold and throaty laughs bubble deep from his belly. As Harry tries with everything in him to keep him in place and tickle cruelly.

"Payback tommo the tease Tomlinson!"

_"What the fuck is ARRGHH HARRY NOOOAAHAHAH STOOPPP!!"_ It's his turn to yell and scream and be tortured and Harry is not the one who shows no mercy.

_"THE FUCK AM TOMMO THE TEASE?!"_ he yells.

"YOU are Tommo the tease!" As he continues his wicked revenge.

_"ARGHH OK... AAHAHA HARR- HARREEH!! STOP OK... I'M HAHAHA- I'M SORRY! OK? YOU'RE AARRGGH STOPP YOU'RE NOT A BABY! OKAY?? I'M SORRY!"_ and that's when Harry stops, his breathe heavy as his body collapses with a thud on Louis'. His cheek resting against Louis' chest which heaved up and down along with his own in a sync as they continue to lay in the same position for a moment longer with Harry's curls flowing all over the place.

"I hate you Louis..." Harry whispers as he continues to gasp for oxygen with the beautiful smile on his face and eyes almost lulling to sleep.

A small chuckle bubbled from Louis' mouth, making Harry feel the vibration of his chest. _"Neither am I a big fan of you..."_ Harry can't see Louis' face right now but knows that Louis is smiling just as big as him.

Harry then raises his head from Louis' chest and squints his eyes, "You were supposed to read me the book, not tickle me to death, so you rightfully deserved that!"

Louis' eyes widen at the mention of book, _"Wow I forgot the book!"_

"Me too... but here.." he held the book and shoved it in Louis' face, which was lying at some corner of the bed all along.

_"Do you have any energy left to stay awake listen as I read? Hmm?"_ He asks as he starts stroking Harry's hair gently and Harry leans into the gentlness.

"I don't really think so..." he says bashfully and Louis chuckles.

_"So sleep then?"_

"Yeah..." and his head falls back on Louis' chest. "Two more mintues like this and then you can back to your room."

Louis chuckles fondly and wraps his arms around Harry's body, _"Take as much time as you want baby koala..."_

"Why are you calling me baby koala?" He then raises his head again from Louis' chest with a small frown on his face as insecurity rushes over him. Embarrassed with himself.

"Am I being too clingy?" He starts to get up but is immediately pulled back at Louis.

_"Stay... I find clingy people the cutest anyway.."_ his voice slightly above a whisper and Harry blushes in freverous way with butterlfies doing the most energetic kind of dance in his belly.

"Hmm..." and they stay like that for five more minutes, their heartbeats and breathes working in sync as they laid peacefully with nothing but the sounds of night, their exhilarated breathes and heartbeats echoing in their ears with their eyes closed.

And suddenly, Louis' arms become the safest place on earth for Harry, his firm yet warm embrace quickly becomes like a sweet little haven to him. But somewhere deep inside him he always knew all of it was temporary and someday they'll have to bid their goodbyes.

Stroking Harry's hair gently, Louis speaks, trying not to disturb the tranquillity they're engulfed with, _"Time to sleep... yeah?"_

"Hmm..." and Harry slips off of Louis' body and the sudden loss of contact makes his insides sad, but it is what it is. Louis gets up from the bed and takes in the view of the whole room which was a complete mess at the moment.

_"Umm... want to sleep in some other room? This one's a disastrous mess right now..."_

Harry struggles to lift his head from mattress but still somehow gets the view of his room anyways.

"Do I get to sleep in that room of all the dark aesthetics?"

_"Yeah ofcourse you do!"_ He chuckles, picks his book and waits for Harry to come to his side. Shutting the door behind them, he speaks again, _"I'll read this to you tomorrow... if that's fine?"_

"While I sleep?" Harry throws a warning look his way.

_"While you sleep!"_ He says fondly with the ends of his lips pulled upwards, almost in a smile.

He then opens the door of the room for Harry and lets him in.

"Quite of gentleman we are." He comments.

_"Ofcourse your majesty!"_ Harry chuckles heartedly at this and jumps on his bed. This one's harder than the one in his room. While his room was decorated with musical decoratives, this one was decorated with all the dark ones and most of it painted in black with glow-in-the-dark stars all over the ceiling, a table lamp that looked like a skull, all the wood in the room was polished in such a way that they looked like they were broken and had cracks in them but in reality they were just as good as new. For the bed, it's frame was black and had red leds fixed in it, all the metallic items were painted to make them look rusty, there were hands fixed on the walls instead of hooks and hangers to hang clothes or any decoratives and there was an entire wall dedicated to cobwebs kind of pattern, it also seemed the wall where all the pictures are hung as there were plenty of small holes and screws on it.... and Harry had to admit, this was the room of his dreams, if only a bit more horror then, but it is what it is.

_"You sure you want to sleep here?"_ He asks, but his voice indicated concern more than mockery. And Harry nods, absolutely delighted.

_"Goodnight then... and if you need anything, you know my room, right?"_

"Yeah I do! Goodnight!" He sings and a small moment later, after switching off the lights and turning on the skull like lamps, Louis was gone and Harry couldn't help but feel alone, really alone. He suddenly misses Louis' embrace and wants to be held like that again, like someone really cares for you, like when you feel at home... home... he abruptly jolts his head at a mere thought of Louis being home and reminds himself of things being temporary.

After ten minutes of rolling on the bed and switching his sleeping positions, he gives up, he can't sleep right now as he is missing Louis being at his side too much for his own liking. But... is Louis missing him too? He's pretty sure he's not.

However, he gets up from his bed anyways and heads towards Louis' room. He knocks once fearing that Louis must've already fell asleep and he might wake him up but instead he is welcomed with a voice from inside, telling him to get in.

There was Louis laying on his side, propped up on his elbow, sheets laid low on his waist with wide blue eyes looking up at him, _"What's up?"_

"Couldn't sleep..." Harry says bashfully in a small voice with a small pout curling on his puffed lips.

_"Same..."_ he leaves a deep sigh and Harry stands awkwardly in his position near the door which for some reason, Louis found very funny as he chuckled.

_"Umm... wanna cuddle tonight?"_ He says with red colour rising high on his cheeks as he lifts up his comforter, inviting Harry in and Harry happily takes the offer with amused eyes and wide smile.

And the next thing he knew was that he is safely tucked into Louis' body, with their arms wrapped around each other under a warm fluffly blanket, breathes collapsing as Harry felt Louis' heart beat at a pace faster than normal and well... his did too. Once they're comfortably lying on the bed their eyes meet, shimmering like green and blue glitters.

_"Hey..."_

"Hi..."

_"Sleep well..."_

"I will, you too.."

_"Yeah.. goodnight.."_

"Night..." he shifts lower in his position and buries his face in the crook of Louis' neck and Louis' hand ruffles through his curls gently.

_"Sweet dreams..."_ he whispers against his temples and places a sweet goodnight kiss there causing Harry's heart to beat faster than ever.

"Sweetest dreams to you..." he whispers and tries to close the non existent gap between them and presses a soft kiss on Louis' ever so prominent collar bones as they drift off to sleep.

And probably, this was the only thing he needed to fall asleep tonight. Louis' arms wrapped around him, the cool temperatures created by the air conditioner and warm fluffly blankets around them, keeping their bodies closer than ever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hii!! Thank you so much for reading so far!! If you liked this chapter don't forget to leave kudos and suggestions!! Love xx


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